Death or Glory
by bojangles25
Summary: Jane Shepard is the hero of the day, maybe the greatest in the history of the universe. But her victory would not have been possible without the sacrifice of others, whose names may never be known except by those whose lives they directly affected. These are the stories of those other heroes, who in death or glory, have become just another story. Rated M, Liara/FemShep romance.
1. Death or Glory

**Reviews are always welcome, as are any suggestions or criticisms. Please point out any serious grammar issues or inconsistencies with the established lore, I try my hardest to avoid them both but I don't always catch it all. :)**

* * *

Jane Shepard grimaced as she made her way down the hall, swinging her crutches ahead and propelling herself forward. The rubber tips at the end echoed faintly as they hit the floor below, and along with her boots were the only sound in the hallway. Two weeks had passed since she woke, four since the Reapers were defeated, and the doctors told her that her recovery to this point was miraculous, near impossible. Plans were being made for celebrations, award ceremonies, parades, all of which Shepard would have to attend. She wished she didn't have to. Everyone told her she was a hero, but she certainly didn't feel like one. EDI was dead. The Geth were dead. Billions of others had given their lives over the past three years. Shepard felt like she belonged with them, not here among the living, not able to live and celebrate the aftermath of the war. So many had sacrificed so much, and paid the ultimate price, yet here she was, still able to live a life that so many others deserved but would never get a chance to live. Every minute Shepard spent in her hospital bed was spent thinking of them.

They were also the reason Shepard was at this military base in London. Liara had been at her side as much as was possible, only leaving her side when the doctors forced her, but she had left three days ago. That morning, Shepard received a call from her girlfriend, asking her to come see her at the Alliance base a couple of blocks from St. Thomas' Hospital. Shepard had been mobile with the aid of crutches for about a week, and it was not hard to get clearance to leave for the day. She was glad to get the hell out of that hospital. The smell of chemicals and death were overpowering, irritating her senses and driving her mad. She couldn't go a day without seeing someone else wheeled down the hallway on a gurney, sheet pulled over their head. The groans of the wounded echoed through the entire hospital, and the deceased increased with every day. Sometimes, Shepard felt as if she was the only person left standing after the fight that was going to be allowed to live. Liara's request had been a godsend, simply because she could leave that accursed building.

Shepard had no idea why Liara wanted her to come to the base, and that unknown made her very nervous as she approached the doorway to the office Liara was using. By the time she was in front of it, resting on her crutches, her heart was pounding and sweat was pouring down her face. She took a deep breath, sighed, and knocked on the door, gingerly so as not to hurt the still healing bones in her hand. Behind the door, she could hear the sound of a chair rolling along the ground, followed by faint footsteps. The door slid open, and a blue goddess smiled at her. "Thank you for coming, Jane," Liara greeted, immediately moving to Shepard's side, as always wanting to assist.

Even though she did not need the help, Shepard was almost always willing to play along when it was Liara, and she did in that moment. After letting Liara take one of her crutches, which was promptly set against one of the three spaces of wall without something pressed up against it, Shepard threw an arm around Liara's shoulders. The asari proceeded to shoulder the woman's weight as she led them to a couple of chairs positioned in front of dozens of monitors, most blank but some still showing the secrets that made the Shadow Broker so powerful. "Why is all of your equipment in here?" Shepard asked. "It will be kind of hard to explain what's going on if someone walked in."

"I don't particularly care," Liara answered, rummaging through a stack of data pads on a nearby piece of equipment. Shepard waited patiently, staring at the monitors. The power one could wield with this type of information was staggering, intimidating. Even with the galaxy in a state of rebirth, there were secrets to be found everywhere. A constant stream of information was coming in from those agents still left, never seeming to stop, all of it being managed and prioritized by the VI Liara called Glyph. Shepard sat and watched this process, completely in awe and somewhat terrified of the power Liara wielded, and until the asari came back over to her, handing her a data pad. "I've been thinking about what you said last week. About feeling regret and anger over surviving when so many others have perished."

Shepard's face paled. "Liara, I…"

"No," Liara interrupted, holding two fingers to Shepard's lips. "Don't tell me you didn't mean it, or that you were just frustrated, or any other excuse you feel inclined to give me." Shepard quieted, and looked away. "Unfortunately, many good people have died. I will never deny that. But you deserve life. If not for you, none of us would have survived this war. It would never have been a war to begin with. You are too good a person to tear yourself apart over out of place guilt. The beloved of those who did give their lives would tell you the same. They would never blame you."

Shepard scoffed, her mouth twisting into a frown. "I don't believe that. They would rather I was dead a hundred times over if it meant their wife or husband or children or parents were still alive."

Liara frowned, and walked over to a keyboard, where her fingers began flying over the keys. Shepard watched until the asari said, "Look at the monitor, Jane." She nearly asked which one, until it became obvious. The video was of Earth, she could recognize that much. Some type of memorial was being built, dozens hard at work. At first there was no volume, but Liara fixed that. Among those mourning was an older man, dark-skinned with graying hair, kneeling near the memorial, his eyes shut. He sniffled, and a tear fell down his right cheek. "Recognize him?" Liara asked.

Shepard could never forget. "Samesh Bhatia."

"Listen to him."

Shepard leaned forward, watching the monitor intently. "I miss you so much," Samesh said, just loud enough to be heard over the activity around him. "I think about you every day, Nirali. Your voice. Your touch." The ghost of a smile touched his lips. " The restaurant continues to do wonderfully, and I know you are smiling down from heaven. I am happy. Still, I miss you." He sobbed for a moment, composing himself quickly. Shepard only felt worse, her heart breaking for the man she saw on the monitor. "I especially know that you are smiling at this moment, seeing that the universe has survived, and will be able to rebuild. I was already eternally grateful to Commander Shepard for her role in having your body returned to me. Now I have her to thank for saving my life, as does the rest of the galaxy. As much as I miss you, I will continue to live, because of that wonderful woman. I love you so much, Nirali."

Liara ended the video feed, and stood by Shepard's side. "That memorial is being built in New Delhi, India, where Mr. Bhatia lives and operates his restaurant, at the site of a graveyard where his wife is buried. He has visited every day over the past week, helping to construct the memorial and speaking with his wife. He has thanked you every time, and never had a bad word to say."

"His wife is one of those that I couldn't save on Eden Prime," Shepard said, staring down at the floor. Samesh's wife had served in Ashley's unit, the 212. All of them except Ashley were dead when the Normandy reached Eden Prime. And now Ashley was dead as well, killed during Hammer's run to the beam leading to the Citadel. Another undeserved victim of the war, someone who deserved the peace that its aftermath provided the galaxy. Shepard curled her hands into fists.

* * *

Nirali Bhatia loved the happy moans she heard in the mess hall. She smiled and continued to stir the contents of the pot in front of her, tasting it every once in a while and adding ingredients. Those who finished the appetizers were already beginning to hover nearby, impatiently waiting for the next course. It made Nirali so happy, the only thing that could have made her happier is if those were Samesh's moans of happiness she was hearing. That, and eating her husband's cooking, of course. She lacked his creative flair, but judging by the reaction her cooking received from the soldiers eating it, she did well enough. She couldn't wait to get back to Earth, where she and Samesh planned on opening their own restaurant. Nirali was determined to close the gap and become every bit as good a cook as her husband. The future customers of their restaurant deserved no less.

A head appeared over her shoulder, in a familiar bun that she knew so well. "What's the ETA on that soup, Nirali? We got hungry soldiers waiting." Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams had her hair in its typical bun, an eager glint in her eyes. She probably enjoyed Nirali's cooking more than anyone else. It reminded her of home, the gunnery chief said, of the home cooked meals she was only able to enjoy from her mother when on leave.

"Sorry, ma'am, about fifteen more minutes," Nirali said, sipping a spoonful and nodding approvingly. Chief Williams patted her on the back, and left the kitchen area.

Patrol that day started the same as usual. Nirali was in the Gunnery Chief's squad, and followed closely, all business. The others joked and paid little attention as they walked, most complaining about the heat that day. Mainly, their conversation centered around the same topic as at breakfast: the Prothean Beacon that had been discovered. Predictions began flying around immediately upon the news of its discovery, and a wager had even been set up, the prize standing at four hundred credits the last time Nirali heard. Typical of soldiers, most of who she talked to about it seemed convinced the beacon contained information on some type of super weapon. Nirali could not pretend to know anything about the Protheans besides what was taught in school, and had absolutely no idea. She hoped there was some type of breakthrough medical advances waiting to be found in the beacon, something that would lower the risk for soldiers like herself and improve the ability to help them when they suffered injuries. Everyone was eagerly awaiting the news, not just the soldiers but the residents of Eden Prime as well.

Three women out for a jog waved as they ran by, and Nirali waved back. Being an Alliance soldier, constantly relocating at the beck and call of her superiors, was a very hard thing to do, and often the colonists she was protecting treated her and the other Alliance soldiers like they were intruders, warmongering nuisances, but the residents of Eden Prime were different. They were respectful, friendly, grateful, and would often show up at base with baked goods as a gift. They smiled when they crossed paths, were always willing to chat, and were generally just very, very, nice people. It made the pain of being away from home the past six months much easier to bear. It also made Nirali's, and every Alliance soldier at the colony's, desire to protect those people much greater.

Two of the male soldiers, young men named Wesley James and Patrick O'Harris, turned to watch the retreating jogging women, eyes firmly on their backsides, and received slaps upside their heads for their trouble from their gunnery chief. "Pay attention, balls-for-brains!" she shouted.

"Ma'am! Sorry, ma'am!" they both responded, and the chuckles throughout the others even brought a smile to Chief Williams's face.

They had just continued their hike up a large hill when a roar suddenly pierced the mid-morning air, driving Nirali to her knees. She looked towards the source of the noise, and felt the blood drain from her face at the sight of the largest ship she had ever seen as it landed at the spaceport. The noise seemed to come from inside her own head, boring through her skull, continuing for minutes on end with no reprieve and drowning out all other sound. Even when it finally stopped, it continued to echo around in her head, until Chief Williams grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet. The rest of the squad seemed to be having the same trouble recuperating as she was. "What the fuck was that?" Brian Wilkes asked, rubbing his temples.

Chief Williams was grasping her weapon firmly, and everyone else followed her lead. "We need to go find out what that ship is and who the fuck it belongs to. Eyes and ears open, pay fucking attention. Move out!"

They could see the glow of fires and hear the exchange of gunfire long before they reached the battle itself. Chief Williams ordered them into a full sprint towards the nearest gunfire. A man screamed, and an explosion rocked the ground beneath their feet. Nirali was trying her hardest to forget her fear. She had never grown use to battle, and never taken part in a true one. The closets she'd ever come was minor skirmishes against pirates who would run as soon as they faced any real opposition. She had killed before, but never grown accustomed. This was a different fight. Whoever had attacked Eden Prime, they had definitely come prepared to fight. Nirali's hands began to shake as she sprinted, and she could not stop them. As they ran past a high cliff, the sound of battle very close now, Nirali could no longer suppress the ill feeling that gathered at the pit of her stomach, and emptied its contents, her throat burning. A hand on her shoulder made her look up. Chief Williams was watching her sympathetically. "Force it down, marine," she said. "We have an enemy to fight."

Nirali somehow managed to ignore the dead bodies, colonists and soldiers of which she could not recognize many. The ones she did, she forced herself to look away from. Chief Williams continued to lead them towards the ever growing sounds of battle, when she suddenly stopped abruptly, her face gone pale. Nirali hurried to her side, rifle aimed forward, and caught her first glimpse of the invading force. "Wh-what are they?" she asked, voice just above a whisper.

"My God," Wesley said. "Are those geth?"

Nirali struggled to recall what she knew about geth. A machine race, created by the Quarians, the ones that drove them from their homeworld. They disappeared behind the Perseus Veil three hundred years ago. "It can't be. Why would they be here?" Brian asked.

"The beacon!" Chief Williams gasped. "Form up! Luck, Varejao, go provide support to those soldiers trapped near that rock formation! The rest of you, follow me! Stay low and move quick, and if you die I will find you in the afterlife and kick your ass!"

Chief Williams moved fast, confidently, towards a group of sheds near one of the farms. Half the crops, which would have been harvested two weeks from now, were ablaze, another third already burned to ash. They moved fast, not stopping until they reached the sheds, where four geth were advancing on three scared civilians hiding at the side of a shed. Nirali opened fire with the rest of her squad, taking the geth completely unaware. They crumpled to the ground, a strange white liquid leaking from their bodies. There was something slightly detaching about fighting machines, and Nirali did not feel the typical uneasy illness she did during the other battles in her military career. Chief Williams, Brian, and Patrick helped the civilians into one of the sheds, and locked the door afterwards.

Nirali did not know what caused the explosion that separated her and Wesley from the rest of their squad. They had reached a communication hub and were trying to send off a distress call, only to find out that all communications were being blocked, almost certainly by the leviathan of a ship that landed at the spaceport. Chief Williams was speaking with one of the other squad leaders from the 212, a Sergeant Carrington, about their next move. The Sergeant and the two survivors from his squad had joined them after Chief Williams led the charge in driving off a small geth force pinning them down. While they talked, a squad of geth snuck up on them, and at some point during the fight an explosion knocked Nirali briefly unconscious. She woke to the heat of flames and a voice shouting her name desperately, telling her to get the hell up. Wesley's face was covered in soot, and his eyes were clouded with pain and confusion. "Come on, wake up!" he shouted desperately.

When Nirali tried to sit up, her entire upper body screamed in protest, and she fell back to the ground. "Help me up," she choked out, and Wesley did so roughly, causing her to cry out in pain. Surprisingly, her right hand still gripped her rifle. She noticed they were alone after she was standing. "Where's Chief Williams?"

Wesley frowned. "I don't know. I woke up a few minutes ago, and there was no one else. There's a couple bodies closer to where the explosion took place, but I don't know who they were."

Nirali closed her eyes forcing her grief to wait. "We need to find them. Chief would have kept moving towards the spaceport. We should do the same."

They moved stealthily, avoiding all groups of geth larger than three and only engaging when they had to. Slowly but surely, the two Alliance soldiers came closer to the spaceport. The geth presence only increased, and they were about a mile away when they saw the first bodies on the strange mechanical spikes. Nirali vomited again, but this time did not need words of encouragement to keep going. A very loud, echoing scream caught her ear, coming from behind them. Nirali knew that there was housing in that direction. "Let's go," she said, beginning to run in the direction of the scream.

"Are you crazy?" Wesley protested. "We need to find Chief Williams."

"We can't just let civilians die," Nirali said, her tone brooking no argument. She did not stick around to listen to anything else Wesley had to say, running off again. She worried that she was alone, until she heard someone running next to her, and looked to see Wesley out of the corner of her vision. A smile crossed her lips.

There were a dozen civilians scattered, taking cover behind debris. Seven geth were moving in on them, firing to keep the civilians in place as they approached. "We can't handle seven of them," Wesley argued. Nirali was beginning to think the man a coward. "Let's go. Securing the beacon is more important than anything else."

"The geth will have control of the beacon by now. You really think there will be less than seven geth there?" Wesley looked away. "You still have grenades?"

"Yeah. Three."

"Okay." Nirali took one more look over the battlefield, to make sure the plan she had decided on was not utterly idiotic. "Throw one right down the middle of those bastards, hopefully you can get a couple but at the very least they will be forced to scatter. We'll break for that machinery over there, and fire at whoever's left to draw their attention."

Wesley nodded, and readied a grenade. "What do we do then?"

"I don't know. Fight and pray the civilians are smart enough to take the opportunity to run. Throw it."

Wesley threw the grenade, almost perfectly landing it in the middle of the geth. The machines were thankfully very stupid, and did not move as it detonated, taking three of them with it. Nirali led the way as they ran to the farm equipment, a couple of large harvesters for the nearby field of crops. Both Alliance soldiers fired wildly in the direction of the remaining geth, and just as Nirali had hoped, they turned their attention to the newcomers shooting at them. Wesley ducked behind the machinery moments before geth fire came their way, two shots flying over them. Nirali began to wish she was a better strategist, because she had no idea what to do now. She and Wesley stayed behind cover, occasionally leaving to fire at the approaching geth. The third time, Nirali noticed the civilians had not moved, and two of the geth had broken away to go after them. "Damn it, we need to get over there!"

"I have two grenades left," Wesley said. "I can use one to distract them long enough for us to get closer to the civilians."

"Good idea," Nirali told him, smiling gratefully.

The two did not wait for the grenade to detonate before sprinting out of cover, again shooting wildly in the direction of the geth to cover their movement. Nirali sprinted along the outside of a home, around the corner, and behind a stack of crates. The civilians were across an open area with no available cover, but she did not stop, ducking as low as she could while still moving quickly. A slug hit the ground near Nirali's feet as she neared the neared the debris the civilians were hiding behind, and she dove the last two feet, sliding along the ground behind cover. Wesley was close behind, bleeding from a grazing wound in his side. Nirali immediately applied medi-gel. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine," Wesley said. "I got one of the bastards, too."

Nirali gave him a light tap on the chest, and turned to the group of civilians. Her heart clenched at the sight. There were seven women of various ages, two young boys, two young girls, and an old man who looked like he could barely move. "Its okay, we're going to get you out of here," Nirali assured them.

"Are you all that is left?" one of the women asked, fear written on every inch of her face.

"No," Nirali lied. "But you are going to have to rely on just the two of us to get you out of here. The others aren't here talking to you."

Looks were exchanged, and they all nodded at her. "Where are we supposed to go?" the woman asked.

Nirali took a quick survey of the surrounding area, laying down a little cover fire while she did so. All the entrances to the homes would require exposing them to the geth. There were groups of sheds about twenty feet away, but they would also expose them to the geth. All the vehicles they might escape to were destroyed. Nirali was growing desperate when Wesley spoke up. "Do any of you live in this home right here?" he asked, pointing to the closest building. Two of the women raised their hand. "Do you have your keycard?" One of them nodded. "We can give them cover fire while they hurry to the back door," he told Nirali. "Just like we did with Chief Williams. Once they are in, we can lock the door behind them."

It was a plan, and devoid of one herself Nirali could protest. "You take the two women and unlock the door. I'll stay here and guard the others, that way the geth can't focus all their efforts on one area." Wesley nodded, and moved to the edge of the debris, among the civilians. Nirali watched as he relayed the plan, comforting the two women as best he could. When she saw them nod, Nirali popped out of cover and laid down a long, wild stream of gunfire, that made the three remaining geth take cover. "Move, move move!" she shouted, and Wesley laid down cover as well while the two women frantically sprinted to the back of the home.

Six of the civilians were inside the home when five more geth appeared. Nirali had suffered two grazing wounds, one to her side and one to her forearm, which despite the medi-gel were still a constant ache, affecting her every movement. The new geth never stopped shooting as they stalked forward. Wesley was taking cover at the side of the home, unable to cross to the debris because of the geths' constant gunfire. They would only be able to move one more group of civilians, and would have to move them all. Nirali turned to the six remaining civilians, trying her best to look confident. "Okay, we're going to move the rest of you all at once," she said. A few gasped in fright. "I promise, if you stay low and run as fast as you can, you'll be fine. Everything will be fine, as long as you do exactly what we tell you." Nirali signaled what she wanted to do to Wesley, who nodded and readied his last grenade.

Nirali counted down from three and gave the signal. Wesley threw the grenade, and in sync the two soldiers exited cover to cover the frantic civilians, who ran as fast as they could. Two of them stumbled when geth shots came close, but they all managed to cross the gap to the home. Nirali waited until they were all across, took a deep breath, and sprinted to join everyone else. A few shots hit her shields, but they held, and she again dove the remaining couple feet into cover, the adrenaline of the moment leaving her breathless.

Once the remaining civilians were in the home, Wesley immediately locked the door. Two geth moved around the corner, and Nirali managed to kill one, the other taking cover. She and Wesley sprinted in the opposite direction, only to run into two more. Wesley bowled into them, knocking them to the ground, and Nirali shot both as she ran by. Nirali stopped at the side of the home, while Wesley kept going. When he noticed she wasn't following, he hurried back. "What are you doing?" he asked, panicking. "They're locked away, they're safe, let's get out of here!"

"It would take the geth five seconds to hack that door," Nirali said. "We can't leave them." Wesley opened his mouth to protest, but closed it, jaw tightening. "We have to guard that door, for as long as we can." The implication did not need to be spoken. One more time, Samesh's smiling face came to her mind, the memory of his touch and his voice. Tears formed, and Nirali ran out to continue the fight.

* * *

"How can someone like Samesh forgive me?" Shepard asked, frowning. "How can Ashley's sisters forgive me? Its my fault their loved ones are dead. Its my fault they will never again see those they love, never again hold them, laugh and cry and experience the joys of life with them. How can they forgive me?"

"Because you are not the least bit to blame," Liara said. "Those two women gave their lives for the greatest cause the universe has ever seen. Nirali Bhatia, in death, saved twelve lives. Without Ashley, maybe you never beat the Reapers, and we are all doomed. Their family will miss them, but they are comforted knowing they died for the best reason one can. Mr. Bhatia just showed you that they are at peace, and hold no ill will towards you or anyone else." Liara grasped Shepard's hand. "You must stop this, Jane. You must stop blaming yourself for every death that occurred in this war. You are a soldier, you know that sacrifice is inevitable. Why is it okay for you to put yourself into danger, and not others? Why would it be okay for you to die, and leave me and your friends alone, but its not okay for others to do the same?"

Shepard had no answer. "I…" she began, wanting so bad to protest, but she knew Liara was right. "Its just hard. I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to put myself down. I just wish Ashley was here, and Mr. Bhatia wasn't mourning a dead wife."

"I know. That's what makes you the woman you are." Liara hugged Shepard from behind, and planted a kiss on her cheek. "That's why its my job to make you feel better."

Shepard was feeling better, enough to smirk. "Well, there are definitely a few ways you can make me feel better," she joked, reverting back to her usual smartass demeanor. Rather than the typical smack on the arm Liara gave her, Shepard received another kiss to the cheek.

* * *

**Every chapter will be similar to this one, beginning and ending with Liara/Shepard interaction with a story in between. I'm planning on doing a story for every place of importance within the story of all three games, Feros, Virmire, the Citadel, Horizon, Palaven, etc. Some will be from the viewpoint of established characters, some following original characters, most will be much more uplifting than this. I'm pretty sure most won't be as long as this was. I don't exactly have a schedule for releasing chapters, but just going off my history so far on this site you can expect them in no longer than a week and a half, and sometimes when I'm really going I'll release two chapters in two days.**

**Hope you liked this, and hope you will like the rest as well. **


	2. All He Could Do Was Try

Shepard recognized the asari immediately. After all, there was only asari she had ever seen with green skin. "Shiala!" she called out, swinging her crutches ahead. The pain was less than last week, but she still needed the damn crutches to get around. Liara was at her side, ever alert in case Shepard needed assistance or needed to be caught in case of a fall. Shepard was sure she would grow sick of her girlfriend babying her so much soon enough, but right now she was still enjoying it. Though she would never again fake being hurt to mess with her girlfriend. That had not gone well.

Shiala turned around, and her face lit up with a smile. "Commander Shepard!" she shouted, walking over to where Shepard had stopped with Liara. "Dr. T'Soni, I am so glad to see you both. We were all praying for the both of you after we heard what happened at the beam. I heard that you had recovered from your injuries, but its such a relief to see you out and about." Shiala looked at the crutches and bandages still adorning Shepard's body, pursing her lips. "How are you, Commander?"

"About as well as I can be," Shepard said, adjusting her stance.

"Maybe we should find somewhere to sit," Shiala said, noticing the commander's discomfort.

They settled for a nearby bench, where Shepard soon found herself watching the ongoing construction efforts that Shiala had been helping with. Among those still working were other colonists from Feros. Shepard recognized Julianna and Lizbeth Baynham, May O'Connell, and Davin and Greta Reynolds. "How many of you came from Feros?" Shepard asked.

"Everyone who thought they would be even the least bit helpful," Shiala answered. "Every ExoGeni scientist that stayed at the colony came here to help with the Crucible, and a lot of us came at the Alliance's request after we managed to repel a Reaper attack. We've made ourselves useful in every way we could."

"I can see that. Do any of you have any actual experience in construction?" Shepard asked, teasingly.

"Jane!" Liara admonished.

Shiala laughed heartily. "Hey, we just follow the instructions we're given. If the people in charge are under qualified, that's their fault, not ours." The three of them laughed together. Shiala was the first to stop, her expression becoming more somber. "I still feel as if I owe whatever I can give to the galaxy. If not for you, I may have been responsible for the Reaper invasion, at a time when we would have had no chance to win."

Liara placed a hand on Shiala's. "You have done plenty to amend for your mistakes. You do not need to feel such guilt." Shepard did not miss the sideways glance Liara gave her, making it clear Shiala was not the only one that statement was meant for.

"Its not so much guilt as it is a sense of responsibility," Shiala said. "A responsibility to do what I can to make this universe a better place."

"Jane is the last person to argue against that logic," Liara said. "I doubt anyone's ever given more of themselves out of a sense of responsibility to better the universe."

Shiala smiled. "I knew that the moment I talked to the colonists in Feros. To hear the lengths you went through to help them, Commander, that was a large part of why I stayed there all these years. You had no reason to save those colonists, no reason to take all the actions you did to help the colony recover, yet you did, without knowing any of them. How could someone like me that was responsible for attempting to kill them not follow your example?"

Shepard blushed, as she knew she tended to do when others began complimenting her to such a level. "I was a Council Spectre doing what was needed. Nothing else. I was far from the only person to give of themselves when the Geth attacked Feros."

* * *

"Come on, hurry it up!" Henry Okpara shouted, fingers constantly flexing and loosening around the grip of his pistol. He could hear the other guards shouting as well, figuring they were waiting every bit as impatiently as he was for the scientists to finish doing whatever it was they were doing. Henry was watching as two scientists worked their fingers furiously over keyboards, lips moving silently. It was a habit he noticed a lot of the staff here had, like they were talking to themselves while they worked. At first he thought it was strange, but after a couple of weeks of working security detail, he grew used to it. One of the scientists finished, and moved on to another console, where he again typed away as fast as he could manage. "Let's go, let's go!" Henry shouted again.

Another five minutes passed before they finished, and the shouts elsewhere in the complex changed, from desperation to fear and pain. Henry grabbed the arms of the scientists and pushed them ahead, telling them to run. He heard the first shots somewhere ahead, and called the scientists to a halt, turning them around. He led the way as they ran the opposite direction, all the way to a staircase. Once there, the three of them hurried down, nearly running into two other security guards and the five scientists they were leading. "Who the fuck is attacking us?" Henry asked.

"I don't know, some kind of robots," the oldest of the other security guards, Raymond, said.

"They're geth!" one of the scientists said, an attractive young woman.

"They are not geth!" Raymond shouted back.

"Yes they are!" the scientist argued. "They attacked Eden Prime, and now they are attacking Feros!"

"Why would they attack Feros? What could possibly here that they want?"

The scientist opened her mouth to speak, but said nothing. Maybe Henry was just paranoid and imagining things, but he thought the scientist looked like she knew why the geth would attack this colony. "It's not our job to know why, we're grunts," he said. "Any ideas where we could set up a defensible position?"

"Not in this building," Raymond said immediately. "Our first priority needs to be getting out of this tower. The robots, geth, whatever, seem to be focusing all their attention here. Let's get to the garage and secure a vehicle."

They came across the first dead bodies on the level below. The geth had been brutally efficient, every victim dead from no more than two or three shots. Offices and labs had been turned upside down, proof that the geth were searching for something. Henry again asked the scientists he and the other guards were escorting what was being kept here that the geth would want, only to again be met with silence. They obviously knew something, especially that young woman. She again appeared as if she wanted to speak, but decided not to. With no time to argue, they continued fleeing, level by level, drawing ever closer to the base of the tower and the garage waiting there. The amount of dead only increased, all killed with the same efficiency as the first ones found. The cries of fear and disgust from the scientists eventually ended, replaced by a numb shock as they mentally removed themselves from the situation, following along without emotion, eyes focusing on nothing.

By the time they reached the third floor of the tower, Henry had begun to let himself hope they would not come across any of the geth. That hope died as they approached a computer lab to their left. So far, upon reaching a new floor, the security would move ahead and check for any hostiles, while the scientists stayed near the stairs they descended to reach the floor. They did the same upon reaching the third floor, and Henry led his two coworkers down the hall slowly, pistols aimed forward. Henry had not seen real action in a decade, since his last tour of duty in the Alliance. He constantly practiced at gun ranges to keep his aim sharp, but there was distinct difference between real life action and anything else, a difference he felt now. His hands shook slightly, his eyes had trouble focusing. He hadn't felt so nervous since his first action, nearly three decades ago.

Henry was the first to hear the mechanical clicks inside the lab, and immediately signaled the other two guards to a halt. Slowly, he crept up to the door, and positioned one hand on the button to open it. Raymond and the other guard, a turian named Hirius, took up position on the other side of the door. Henry breathed in deep, held it, and pushed the button. They were through the door quickly, shooting at everything that moved. When it was over, four geth were deactivated, the room was clear. Henry released the breath he had been holding, and his body trembled. Raymond and Hirius picked up the assault rifles the geth had been armed with, and threw one Henry's way.

Two more labs and an office were cleared the same way, and the group of security guards and scientists made it to the first floor. Henry was beginning to feel relief, thinking the worst was over, when something slammed into the side of the tower, shaking the entire structure and nearly knocking them all off of their feet. When the shaking finally stopped, Henry took a moment to catch his breath, having not even realized until then he had stopped breathing. "What was that?" Hirius asked, whispering.

None of them knew, so no one answered. "We're almost at the garage," Raymond said, also whispering. "Let's just keep moving."

Henry must have been the only person not surprised at the geth presence when they reached the garage. Raymond had cursed at the sight, Hirius went wide-eyed, and all the scientists gasped, the worry plain in their eyes. Henry was the only one who hardly reacted. Of course the geth would take control of the garage, they wouldn't want anyone escaping, and taking a vehicle was basically the only good chance anyone had of doing so. "I can reach one of the two close transport vehicles, but you will all need to run the minute I start the thing up," Hirius said.

"I'll go with you, watch your back," Henry said. The turian patted him on the back, and Raymond nodded his consent. He was explaining the plan to the scientists when Hirius led the way into the garage, crouching as he moved, Henry right behind him.

The closest of the transport vehicles was capable of carrying twenty, plenty of space for all of them. Henry noticed a machine gun turret atop it as well. Hirius moved with an easy, quiet grace, which Henry tried his hardest to duplicate. The geth inside the garage, of which Henry could count sixteen, with one additional massive geth that walked on four legs, focused their attention more on the entrance to the garage, which kept their sight away from the two guards at the rear. Hirius opened the passenger side door and hurried into the vehicle, while Henry nervously watched for anyone that might come across them. He heard the scrape of metal on concrete echo through the garage, coming his way in moderately paced strides, timed one after the other with mechanical perfection. There was nothing to do but wait, and be ready to shoot. Eventually, the footsteps stopped, five long, dread filled seconds passing. When they turned around and began walking away, Henry had to fight the urge to sigh with relief.

Moments later, a three fingered hand set itself on his shoulder, and he jumped at the contact. It was only Hirius, he realized. "I'm ready to start this, I'll give you thirty seconds to get back to Raymond and the scientists before I start it up." Henry nodded and began creeping back, keeping his eye on the geth to make sure he went unseen. He tried his hardest to mimic the skilled movements Hirius had used to sneak from the door to the vehicle, staying low, moving only when he was sure he was unseen. He was halfway there, hope again rising within him, when he heard gunshots. At first he was certain either he or Hirius had been spotted, but then another round of gunshots rang out, and he realized they were coming from the direction of the scientists. With no further care over being spotted, he stood and sprinted.

The door opened as he approached, and one of the scientists bowled into Henry, nearly knocking him over. The security guard didn't bother to ask what was happening. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. Behind him, Henry heard the transport being driven their way and the gunshots being fired at it. The other scientists were hurrying out into the garage, taking the lead of the first in taking cover behind whatever they could. Henry noticed that three of them, including the young woman, were nowhere to be seen. "Take cover until the transport gets here, and when Hirius tells you to get in you get in," Henry said. "Don't hesitate, or you will get left behind. When he says move, you move."

Henry stood and ran, ignoring the warning shouts directed his way. He ran through the door leading back inside the tower, just as two geth walked through another door straight ahead. With no hesitation, he fired his assault rifle and dropped both. The corpse of one of the scientists was on the ground, head leaning against the wall. A pool of blood was spreading underneath him from the various wounds on his chest. A separate blood streak led through a doorway to the right, and Henry followed it, rifle aimed forward and ready to shoot at a moment's notice. The lights flickered on and off, as explosions rocked the tower somewhere above. The blood streak continued in an irregular pattern down the hallway, around a corner, and into an office. Henry kicked the door open, only to find what he hoped he wouldn't. Raymond was fading quickly, bleeding from wounds to his gut, leg, and shoulder. Henry knew right away there was nothing he could do for him. "You need to go back, before you get left behind."

"Where's the young woman? Henry asked. "She's the only one unaccounted for."

Raymond coughed, his spittle thick with blood. "Lizbeth said she was going to stay behind to send off a message to Colonial Affairs, tell them what happened. I covered her while she ran, took a few bullets but managed to draw them away and take them out one by one."

So there was no chance of finding her in time to get her out. "You died a good death, Ray. Rest in peace, friend." Raymond coughed again, and his eyes closed.

Thankfully, Hirius had not driven off without him, though when Henry got back, he saw that the turian had clearly had to fight, with geth bodies everywhere. The large geth unit with the four legs had never activated, it seemed. "I was about to leave your moronic ass behind," Hirius said after jumping down from the turret compartment and getting back to the driver's seat.

"I'm glad you didn't," Henry said, moving to take his place. A hand gripped his arm and pulled him before he could do so. It was an older woman, tears ready to fall from her eyes. "Ma'am, please, I need to get on this turret and shoot at these geth before they take us out," he pleaded. Shots were hitting the shields, and Henry heard the tires squeal as the transport moved forward.

"We can't leave my daughter, she was with us a couple minutes ago, we can't leave her!" the woman cried hysterically.

"We can worry about Lizbeth later, Juliana," one of the other scientists said.

"Fuck you, Ethan, fuck you!"

Somehow, Henry had not noticed the resemblance until that moment. "Ma'am, your daughter stayed behind to send out a message letting everyone know what happened and get the Alliance to come help. I assure you, Raymond stayed behind to keep her safe."

The lie was necessary, but the woman did not want to believe it. She smacked Henry as hard as she could, and tried to leave the transport. Henry was one of three pairs of arms that grabbed her, holding her in place as she screamed and insulted and struggled to escape. Ethan came over to take his place, allowing Henry to take command of the turret. He tried his best to drown out the anguished cries from below and focus on the skyway ahead.

Geth troopers of various makes and sizes lined the skyway, firing assault rifles, rockets, energy pulses, and sniper rifles. Tank-like geth like the four legged one in the garage fired pulse rounds and heavy machine gun rounds, capable of easily ripping through the transport's shields and damaging the hull in seconds. Henry shot at everything, doing all he could to take these geth out and keep them safe. It helped that Hirius was a fantastic driver. The turian swerved the transport this way, that way, stopped and sped up, keeping the worst of the projectiles sent their way from making contact. Henry could hear the scientists below scream at every turn. Juliana had managed to calm down, but was still crying. It was all he could do to keep his mind focused on the task ahead.

The transport was nearing the Skyway Weigh Station when one of the geth tanks scored a direct blow through their weakened shields, and alarms began blaring inside the transport. "Damn it, we have to get out of this thing!" Hirius shouted, having to in order to be heard above the alarms.

"Get to the Weigh station first!" Henry shouted back.

"I'm not sure I can manage that!" Hirius told him.

"All we can do is try!"

Henry fired the machine gun as long as it could, until the alarms warning him it had overheated mingled with the other alarms indicating the transport's various failures. Hirius slammed into two large geth firing rockets, just outside the large door to the weigh station. As the door opened for the approaching transport, a tire blew out and the vehicle began to tip on its side. "Everyone hold on!" Hirius shouted, and Henry jumped down from the turret to brace for impact. The transport tipped, sliding on its side down the decline leading down from the doorway. One of the scientists lost their grip and fell heavily into Henry, but he managed to keep his own grip while holding the scientist. When the vehicle finally stopped, after colliding head on with something, Hirius managed to exit out a hatch at the top and open the back doors for the rest of them.

To their right, and down a ramp, they set up the best defensive perimeter they could manage. Over the course of the next two hours, others came, mainly other security guards. Henry felt nearly incapacitated from exhaustion, his eyes refusing to stay open. He nearly drifted off to sleep when the touch of a hand on his forearm startled him awake. "I'm sorry," Juliana said. "I know you were only doing your job. I should not have lost control the way I did."

Henry smiled sympathetically. "You were concerned for your daughter. I'd have to be stupid to blame you for that."

"You're being kind," Juliana said. "I…I just want her to be safe. She's my daughter." The woman began crying. Henry hugged her, not sure what else to do or say. When she finally pulled away, she immediately wiped the tears away. "Thank you. I should get back to…something."

Juliana walked away, and Henry let himself again surrender to sleep.

* * *

"Henry was the guy with the scarred fingers, right?" Shepard asked. She distinctly remembered the authority he seemed to carry when she came upon the group of survivors at the Skyway Weigh Station.

"That's him," Shiala said. "Still kicking, too. He may not be a young guy, but he fights pretty damn well, and with age seems to have come wisdom. Henry knows his limits, and doesn't push beyond them. Thankfully, his limits still make him a hell of a soldier."

"That's good," Liara said. Then she turned a critical stare to Shepard. "I wish she could understand her limits well enough to live to an old age."

Shepard laughed. "You don't have anything to worry about, babe, not in the immediate future. I can't even walk, let alone go out and get shot at."

"You don't need to be walking for someone to find an excuse to try and kill you," Liara said, deadly serious.

Shiala shifted uncomfortably. "Um, it was nice seeing you again, both of you. I should get back to work though, before someone comes looking."

Shepard ignored the look Liara gave her, and smiled at the green asari. "I'll have to make a trip to Feros when I'm feeling better. See how things are going."

Shiala smiled, blushing. "We'd love to show you that your hard work did not go to waste." She again said her goodbyes and walked back to the construction site, looking back one more time.

The intense look Liara had could not go without being teased, not by Shepard. "I do believe she likes me." The scolding stare Liara gave her was worth the joke. "Come on, if I was going to leave you or cheat on you it would never be with another asari. What's the point, I'm already in love with the most attractive asari in the universe."

A smile cracked Liara's stern expression, as much as she tried to avoid it. "Goddess, I hate you sometimes. No matter how angry I should be at you, you say or do something like that to erase it all. You're going to be in trouble the next time we have a serious argument, I have months of built up tension to dispense."

Shepard saw the opening, and scooted closer to Liara, placing a hand on her thigh. "I'm not too injured to help you dispense of that tension." She placed a kiss on Liara's cheek, and another just under her jaw.

"Goddess take you, Jane," Liara said, smiling brightly.


	3. There Was No Right Choice

Each step that Shepard felt like she was lifting a lead ball chained to her ankles, straight out of a cartoon, as she dragged herself closer to the memorial. She did not want to do this yet, but she owed it to them all. Everyone she had served alongside, who she had fought with, laughed with, taken her meals alongside, formed friendships with. They were the people who watched her back in battle, who were responsible for the ship she flew on, obtained the intelligence that provided her with targets. They were the ones she fought for, all those years, as much as anyone else. Their bodies had already been returned to their families and loved ones, at least for those who such an act was possible. Services had been held, respects had been paid, and they rested in peace. All that was left to do was for Shepard to pay her own respects, long overdue.

Shepard took a quick look backwards, where Liara stood and waited. She nodded at Shepard, a silent affirmation of her support. Shepard had insisted that she do this alone, but now that insistence was wavering. Everything was easier with Liara by her side. Liara had known and loved these men and women just like Shepard had. Maybe she should go back and ask Liara to be by her side.

As quickly as those thoughts formed, Shepard shook them away, returning her gaze to the steps ahead. She needed to focus. Even with her continued recovery from her injuries, finally not needing crutches to get around as of two weeks ago, the pain was there and showed no hesitation to make itself known. An act as simple as walking required her concentration in order to not trip over her own feet or have her leg lock up on her. Such physical disability was not something Shepard was used to, and certainly did not enjoy. For something as important as this, though, the pain did not matter. She would bear it, for those who no longer felt pain.

Upon finally reaching the memorial, Shepard placed one hand upon it, both out of respect and to steady herself. Her eyes went from name to name, remembering the faces they belonged to. And she could remember them all, vividly. Those faces each came to her mind as she looked them over, stopping at each to say a silent thank you. Some she lingered longer, remembering the special sacrifices those individuals had made. Jenkins, the first casualty of the Normandy crew, his spirited energy cut so unfortunately short. Pressley, who came so far in his opinions of the non-human members of the crew before the Collectors ended his life. Jacob and Zaeed, who each gave their lives aboard the Collector Base, holding off the Collectors just long enough for Shepard to blow the fucking thing to hell. Thane, who even in his dying days did not hesitate to give everything his body could to save Councilor Valern.

The name at the top of the column to the right was the one Shepard lingered on the longest. It was the one she felt the most guilt over, the one whose death changed her forever. Tears began to slowly trickle down her cheeks, which only made Shepard angrier at herself. She wiped them away angrily, mouth set into a frown and eyes narrowed. Once she had composed herself fully, Shepard stood straight, and whipped her hand up in salute. She held that pose. "We did it, Alenko," she whispered, just barely audible. "We beat those sons of bitches. I promised you long ago that I would finish this, that your death would not be in vain, and now I can tell you it wasn't. The rest of the galaxy may not know your contributions, your sacrifice, but I will NEVER forget, and neither will anyone who ever served alongside you."

Shepard again needed a moment to compose herself, breathing in deep. "I know I'm way overdue here, but Godspeed, my friend. I know you and Ash and everyone else who gave their lives in this war are together now, free of war and death and pain. I hope you all know just how grateful I am to every single one of you."

Liara walked slowly to Shepard's side after she turned away from the memorial. "I'm sure he's smiling, wherever he is."

"I wish he was smiling here," Shepard said, still frowning. "But thanks anyway. Its hard to believe so much time has passed since Virmire." She looked down at her feet. "The nightmares still won't go away, Liara."

* * *

"Why is it that whenever someone says, 'with all due respect,' what they really mean is 'kiss my ass?'" Ashley asked, her irritation getting the better of her.

Kaidan shouldn't have smiled at that, but he did anyway. It was true, he kind of did mean, "kiss my ass," when he said "with all due respect," just now. The Salarians wanted a volunteer, and he held rank. Ash shouldn't have protested, she should have said "Yes sir!" and shut up afterwards. Of course, she wouldn't be the soldier she was if she did what was expected. Kaidan quickly stopped grinning, waiting for the Commander to make her choice.

"Williams, you'll accompany the Captain," Shepard said, turning her head to meet Ash's eyes. "No heroics. Understood?"

"Aye, aye, Commander!" Ash said, a triumphant smirk on her face as she saluted.

Kaidan knew better than to protest. Shepard had made it clear to him and everyone else on the Normandy that she was never to be questioned in the field. Her door was always open during the downtime between missions, but once the mission started her authority was absolute. So Kaidan swallowed the protest that crept up his throat and settled on his tongue. A few more words were exchanged between the Shepard and Kirrahe, and the Captain walked off to deliver his final words to his men.

When Shepard turned to face Kaidan and Ash, the Gunnery Chief smiled nervously. "Well, this is it," she began. "Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone, LT. You either, Commander."

"We'll be fine. You'll see," Kaidan said, trying his hardest to sound confident.

"Yeah, I just…" Ashley paused. "Good luck."

"It doesn't matter if we aren't fighting alongside each other, we're still a team," Shepard said. We can still watch each other's backs, keep our eyes open, and help each other out. Fight like I know you can, and we'll all come out of this in one piece, ready to celebrate back on the Normandy." Shepard smirked, that cocky smirk that never failed to inspire those who saw it. "Let's kick their asses and end this right fucking now."

Ashley nodded and gave her best salute. "You bet, Commander!"

* * *

The dish atop the checkpoint came crashing down in a shower of sparks, sections of it breaking off upon impact with the ground below, a scrap of metal whirling through the air and lodging itself in the one remaining geth soldier. Kaidan lowered his gun, and released the breath he had been holding. Shepard took one more look around, and did the same. "Alright, all clear. Move out!"

They continued to look for opportunities to help the Salarian squads as they went. Shepard launched a grenade at a fueling station, sending the fuel tanks and the geth flyers refueling nearby up in flames. Tali hacked a console to disable the facility's alarms. Once inside, they continued to blast their way through geth, krogan, and indoctrinated salarians, working their way through the facility towards the rendezvous point to plant Kirrahe's bomb. The sights Kaidan saw made him sick to his stomach, and only strengthened his resolve to blow this place to hell. Indoctrinated salarians. Cloned krogan gone mad. Evil, immoral scientists who pleaded for their lives, feigning ignorance of the facility's true purpose. Shepard let one of them go, an asari assigned to studying indoctrination. Kaidan had to bite his lip hard enough to draw blood in order to avoid questioning the Commander at that moment. He was not a cold blooded man, and would typically be the voice of mercy in such an occasion. Not here, though. Not for these people.

Past the asari's office, an elevator took them up to what was supposed to be Saren's office. Inside, they found a Prothean beacon, a haunting green glow emanating around the structure. "Commander, be careful," Kaidan warned as Shepard walked towards it, no hesitation in her stride, as usual. Like last time, the beacon drew her in, suspending her in the air as the vision entered her brain. When it was over, she fell to the ground with a thud, the metal clanging loudly upon her impact.

Kaidan and Tali both hurried over to Shepard, who was already standing on her own. The difference was astounding. The beacon on Eden Prime had put her out for fifteen hours. Shepard's strength was inhuman, impossible. Kaidan again found himself burying the feelings he felt for the woman, knowing nothing would come of them. The asari had already captured Shepard's attention, as completely and irresistibly as Shepard had captured his. "Are you okay, Shepard," Tali asked, waiting nearby to help her to her feet.

"I'm fine," Shepard said. "Let's move."

She walked past, removing her assault rifle from its holster without another word. They were near the top of the ramp when the console display to the right appeared, followed by an image of what appeared to be Saren's ship, Sovereign. "You are not Saren."

* * *

Kaiden heard the ship seconds before it arrived. "Heads up, LT! We just spotted a troop ship headed to your location!" Ash attempted to alert him.

He was already shooting. "They're already here! There's geth pouring out all over the bomb site!"

"Can you hold them off?!" Shepard asked, the static doing nothing to hide the frantic tone in her voice.

One of the soldiers to Kaidan's left let out a scream as he dropped dead, and another ahead of him was sent flying backwards by an explosion, collapsing when he made impact with the railing near Kaidan. The battle had just started and they were down three of the bomb's defenders, including the guy who took a bullet to the head as the geth first landed. "There's too many! I don't think we can survive until you get here!" In that moment, Kaidan found his decision quite easy, almost automatic. "Lay down some cover fire!" he shouted to the remainder of the bomb's defense force. Once they began shooting, Kaidan ran to the bomb, frantically working over the interface. "I'm activating the bomb!" he told Shepard.

"What the hell are you doing, Alenko?!" Shepard shouted, as furious as he'd ever heard her.

Kaidan was nearly done. "I'm making sure this damn bomb goes off, no matter what!" A burst of fire hit close to him, too close. Kaidan did his best to ignore it, trusting the men around him to watch his back. He finished arming the bomb, and ran to the nearest cover, a stack of crates about ten feet away. "It's done, Commander! Go get Ash and get the hell out of here!"

"Fuck that!" Ash responded immediately. "We can handle ourselves. Go back and get the LT, Commander!"

There was a long pause. Kaidan prayed that the Commander would do the right thing. The bomb was armed, the geth were innumerous. Shepard would only place herself and the entire mission in danger if she tried to rescue him. Kaidan had accepted his death while arming the bomb. He could not accept Ash's death, nor Shepard's if she came back. Damn it, Jane, make the right decision, he thought, as he watched another of the soldiers with him fall, a sniper bullet splattering the top of her skull. "Williams, radio Joker and tell him to meet us at the AA tower!" Shepard finally said, her voice thick with emotion.

"Yes, Commander," Ashley said, sorrowfully. "I…"

"It's the right decision, Ash, and you know it," Kaidan interrupted. Strangely, a smile came to his face.

"Damn it, Kaidan, you hold those fuckers off!" Shepard shouted, using every ounce of authority she could manage, as if she could stop the inevitable, change fate, through nothing more than her admittedly incredible sheer will. "We're coming for you, you stay alive, damn it!"

Kaidan smiled sadly. "We both know that's not going to happen, Commander."

"Lieutenant!" Shepard shouted. "Kaidan!"

He shut his radio off, and a shudder ran through his body. It was over. Shepard would rescue Ash, and would probably barely escape the blast herself. There was no chance they would come back for him, and Kaidan found he was perfectly okay with that. An Alliance soldier must always be prepared to give their life. To tell the truth, he had had a strange feeling about today since they found out this was Saren's base of operations. He could never have predicted this, but he did not feel the shock he assumed a person should when faced with their death. Two more Alliance soldiers were killed, leaving Kaidan and one other, a young man with the last name Kennison, if he was remembering correctly. Kennison was taking cover, shaking from fright. Kaidan whistled, and the young soldier looked his way. "Have strength, son," he said, trying to appear as brave as he could. "We can't control whether the Normandy gets here in time, but we can control how many of these synthetic bastards we kill. Can you kill some synthetic bastards?" Kennison took a deep, shuddering breath, and nodded.

Kaidan burst from his cover, and put all he could into a biotic blast sent the geth's way. It caught six of them, and sent them flying into three others. Seven total were sent flying off the edge of the building to the death. Kennison, God bless the kid, did not hesitate to open fire, screaming as he did so. Kaidan aimed his pistol and began doing the same.

Kennison died after about five minutes. For a couple minutes, the two soldiers held their own, taking advantage of the temporary drop in hostiles after Kaidan's blast. That was only temporary, and by the third minute the troop ship had completely replenished the geth's numbers. Kaidan was reloading when a hail of bullets cut Kennison down, ripping him to shreds from the chest to his waist. Three minutes were left on the bomb's countdown. Summoning what little strength he had left, Kaidan used his biotics to lift one of the huge Geth Primes and send it crashing into numerous smaller units. That bought him the time to let his pistol cool down.

A trickle of something wet was felt on Kaidan's lips, and he reached up to touch to find his nose bleeding. A fierce migraine was building up, and muscles in his arms ached from use. Soon, Kaidan knew he would fade into unconsciousness. He had been fighting for hours, and with his last two biotic displays had drained himself to the brink of collapse. He thought about Shepard, and the strength she would show in a similar situation. He thought of all the times she had shown impossible stamina and willpower in combat, pushing herself beyond what Kaidan had understood to be the limits of the human body. He was going to die anyway. Summoning what little his body had left, he threw forth one more biotic field, sending one more group of geth flying off the building to their deaths. With nothing left to offer, he fell to the ground, back against the bomb. New pains made themselves known, and he looked down to see blood seeping from wounds at his chest and abdomen. The bomb continued to beep, counting down. His vision blurred, but he could still make out the Normandy as it hurried away, past the gathering storm clouds and into the upper atmosphere, out of his sight. Kaidan allowed himself one more deep breath, and lifted his pistol.

* * *

Shepard could not continue to hold herself up, could not continue to be stronger than she actually was. Both her legs buckled, and she felt herself begin to fall, only saved from doing so by Liara catching her. Shepard felt herself being lowered to the ground in her girlfriend's arms. A hand stroked her hair while another rubbed her back. "I suppose this proves you should have brought your crutches?"

"I'm fine," Shepard insisted, knowing how stupid it was to try and pretend nothing was wrong. It was a habit, even with Liara she had always found it easier to pretend nothing was wrong and keep her burdens to herself. It was a habit that she would need to stop if she was to avoid pushing Liara away. When the asari let go of Shepard and began to stand, Shepard grabbed her hands to stop her. "I'm sorry. I'm not fine at all. Three years later, and Virmire still haunts me like it just happened. Kaidan's face haunts my dreams, that choice haunts my dreams."

"That's what makes you the great person you are," Liara said. "You care about the people you fight alongside. But you know there was no right choice. There is no point in torturing yourself over a choice that was going to torture you no matter what happened."

Shepard shook her head, frowning. "I don't believe that." A family of three, two parents with their young son, were approaching, the parents smiling as they talked to their son. "Can we wait to talk about this, until we're out of here and back at the hotel? I wouldn't feel comfortable talking about something like this here."

Liara smiled, a genuine, loving smile. "Of course, Jane." She helped Shepard to her feet, and Shepard returned the smile.

After a few silent moments, allowing her to regain her composure and her strength, Shepard took Liara's hand and the two walked away. As they passed the family, Shepard smiled politely at first, and increasingly more as they smiled enthusiastically at her. After they passed each other, Shepard heard the parents whispering to each other, trying to figure out whether the woman they had just seen was actually Commander Jane Shepard. It made her feel instantly better, knowing a family like that, and many, many more like them, would now be safe. Shepard wrapped her arms around Liara's left, leaning on her, the limp in her walk lessening slightly.

* * *

**The main reason this was kind of short was because we all played the game, we all know Virmire. If you wanted to read what happened in the game, you'd probably rather play the game, so I decided to focus mainly on Kaidan's thoughts instead, and have the combat scene be something we didn't actually see. **


	4. Pure Luck and Good Timing

**This chapter has the most Liara/Shepard interaction so far, along with a guest appearance. I might have made some mistakes with the lore, space battles aren't exactly my strongpoint with Mass Effect. If its bad about something, let me know. **

* * *

Being on the Normandy again just felt right. The dull blue lighting, the low humming sounds, the crew going about their business, it all brought a smile to her face. She continued walking to the cockpit, where an Alliance cap could be seen poking above a chair. She grinned, and picked up her pace, the best she could anyway. The chair turned as she drew close, and the face she had hoped to see grinned that same smartass grin that had annoyed her so many times. "It can walk!" Joker said, overdramatically. "Oh, we need to take pictures! Shepard is walking on her own! Our little Spectre's all grown up!"

Shepard laughed. "Good to see you Joker."

The pilot's grin disappeared, replaced with a worried expression that confused Shepard. "Wait, why are you laughing? You never laugh at my jokes. What happened to 'Shut the fuck up and drive the ship, asshole?' I wasn't prepared for a nice Shepard."

"Come on, Joker, I wasn't always a bitch to you."

"No, not always," Joker said, rubbing the stubble on his chin in thought. "Just when you were actually talking to me."

"Shut the fuck up and drive the ship, asshole," Shepard said, laughing as she said it.

Joker grinned turned his chair around. "Aye, aye, ma'am!"

Shepard finished the walk to the cockpit, and stared out the window at the sight before her. What looked to be over a hundred ships were flying around the floating remains of the Citadel, which were orbiting above the Earth. Some of those ships were pulling guard duty, an unnecessary function since there wasn't anything to protect the worker ships from, but the vast majority were all dedicated to the rebuilding of the Citadel. The station was about halfway rebuilt, and the task was moving along much quicker than initial projections, mainly because the station had broken into surprisingly clean sections. The inner ring had somehow stayed almost completely intact, and it was that inner ring that the Normandy was heading towards. "So where is your blue wheelchair?" Joker asked.

"My what?" Shepard asked.

"You know, Liara. Your blue wheelchair."

Shepard hoped Joker wasn't making the joke she thought he was. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Um, well, because she's, um, always with you and helping you get around?" Joker said nervously. "And I've always enjoyed the thought of you sitting on her."

There it was. Shepard gave him a light slap to the back of the head, wishing she could have just punched him in the jaw. He still groaned in pain, rubbing the spot where she slapped him. "Be glad your stupid brittle bones won't let me hit you harder than that."

"Okay, okay," Joker said, frowning. "Message received."

Liara frowned as she walked to the cockpit at that moment, unsure of the scene before her. Shepard was glaring daggers at Joker, who was trying his best to both fly the ship and look away from the woman to his left. He must have made a bad joke that made Shepard angry, she assumed. "Hi, Joker," she greeted when she arrived at the cockpit.

He quickly glanced at her and immediately looked away. "Um, hi Liara."

She saw a slight blush creep onto Joker's cheeks. Yep, he definitely just made a dirty joke. Liara looked at Shepard, who shook her head. "You don't want to hear it."

"I'll take your word for it, then," Liara said, smiling.

The Destiny Ascension was one of the ships standing guard over the worker ships, and the massive flagship of the Citadel Defense Force was Liara and Shepard's destination. The Council was aboard, using the ship as their temporary headquarters, and probably would be for the foreseeable future. The asari crew stared in awe as Shepard and Liara walked the ship, led by an escort. Some of them whispered excitedly, and a few interrupted their walk to greet them with enthusiastic handshakes and words of praise. Liara swelled with pride. It was not that long ago, three years, barely a blip in the life of an asari, that she was looked at as something of a loon, an outcast, with disrespectful rumors and whispers flung around about her on a constant basis. Her own people looked at her as a disappointment to her mother. Now many of those same people were watching her, the admiration shining on their faces, as she walked by. Liara couldn't resist the smile that came to her lips.

Every asari ship, in a feature exclusive only to their people, featured an office specifically for the captain to use to mediate disputes between crew members and hand down discipline for illegal acts. It was there that Shepard and Liara were led to, and found the Council waiting for them, minus a human representative. With the Reaper invasion to deal with during the time of Udina's betrayal and death, and rebuilding efforts to focus on afterwards, earnest discussion over who would take humanity's seat on the Council had only begun in the past few months. Shepard, of course, had been expected to participate in those discussions, but despite the criticism she received she refused to do so. Liara immediately stopped thinking of the things those horrible journalists had said, not wanting to make herself angry at that moment. The Council were all smiles as they left their seats to greet her and Shepard. "Commander, it is good to see you are doing well," Councilor Tevos greeted. "You too, Dr. T'Soni."

Once all of the greetings were finished, Shepard and Liara took a seat in the chairs provided for them. "This is a beautiful ship," Shepard said.

"It is the pride of the Citadel Defense Fleet," Councilor Tevos said, full of pride.

"Anything less, and it wouldn't be here today," Councilor Sparatus said.

Liara could remember seeing the damage to the _Destiny Ascension_, and the rest of the Citadel Fleet, when the _Normandy_ fled Earth just before the Crucible fired. She could also remember being onboard the _Normandy_ during the Battle of the Citadel, waiting nervously along with the rest of the Alliance's Fifth Fleet to pass through the Widow Relay and join the ongoing battle around the massive station. She was one of those listening nervously when Joker finally managed to contact Shepard, waiting for her decision on whether to hold back and wait for the Citadel arms to open, or pass through the Relay and save the crippled _Destiny Ascension_.

The feelings between Shepard and Liara were so fresh then, so fragile. Unbeknown to Shepard, they had been greatly tested that day. Liara stood in the cockpit of the _Normandy_, with no idea what Shepard would do, and how she would react to that decision. She tapped her foot nervously, biting her bottom lip. Then Shepard gave the order, telling Joker that the Council had to be saved at all costs. Liara smiled then, as the _Normandy_ entered the Relay ahead. Her smile disappeared when she saw the state of the _Destiny Ascension_.

* * *

Matriarch Lidanya's eyes grew wide as the first volley of missiles struck, blasting many of the ships around the _Destiny Ascension_ and destroying most, along with the soldiers onboard. Her friends, the people she respected more than anyone else in the entire galaxy. The _Destiny Ascension_ moved forward to meet the invaders, and Lidanya managed to snap to attention when another volley of geth missiles fired their way, a few making impact and making her stumble. "Activate the defenses, seal the station!" she ordered.

"The arms aren't moving, systems not responding," Melyna said, somehow remaining much, much calmer than Lidanya was. It was a trait that played a large role in her receiving the assignment as the pilot of the _Destiny Ascension_, but that calmness was irritating Lidanya right now.

The captain gritted her teeth, and sparks flew at her from the left. "Abandon the Citadel! Evacuate the Council!" she ordered. Melyna nodded, and turned the ship toward the Presidium Tower. A missile struck the rear of the ship, making it lurch violently.

Melyna opened the communications channel with the Citadel. "Citadel Control? Citadel Control, do you copy?" she asked. No response came back. "Citadel Control, respond!" Again, no response. "I'm sorry, captain, they aren't answering."

Lidanya took a deep breath, burying her fear. "Keep trying. Send word to the shuttle bay to prepare to evacuate the Council."

Lidanya met the Council, their families, and their bodyguards at the airlock, the fright on all of their faces immediately evident. "Please follow me, we'll secure you somewhere safe and get you out of here." They all nodded fearfully, and followed as Lidanya took long, hurried strides towards the safe room they would be using. It wasn't exactly safe if they didn't get the hell out of here before the ship was destroyed, but that was an entirely separate issue. Once they arrived, Lidanya tried to appear as confident as she could while speaking. "Don't worry, your safety is our top priority, and we will get you out of here. I promise."

Councilors Sparatus and Valern barely paid attention, sitting with their families silently. Councilor Tevos was the only one to acknowledge Lidanya. "Thank you, captain. We know we can trust you with our lives."

With perfect, or rather imperfect, timing, the ship again lurched from another missile blow. Lidanya bowed to the councilors, and hurried from the room. Two asari commandos were posted outside, just two of the dozen assigned to protecting Councilor Tevos. "Stay here, and wait for further orders," Lidanya said, with full authority. "We may need to escort them to a different ship. You'll need to be ready for that." The commandos nodded.

* * *

"All ships fire everything you have on that thing!" Lidanya shouted desperately. The ship was impossibly large, the biggest she had ever seen. No matter what they hit it with, it didn't so much as slow down. "Damn it, fire!" From her view in the cockpit, Lidanya could see the Citadel arms closing. A round of cheers sounded from the crew at the news, but Lidanya saw right away what was happening. Whatever finally made those arms close, it was not on their side. Projectiles bounced off the giant ship harmlessly, as though they might as well have been made of plastic and thrown at the damned thing. Over the comm channel, Lidanya could hear Executor Pallin giving the same desperate orders that she was. All of their efforts proved fruitless, and the ship passed inside of the closing Citadel arms just as they shut completely.

Very little remained of the Citadel Fleet, the shattered hulls of dozens of ships floating in space, obstacles to avoid for the ships still waging the battle. Lidanya tried her hardest to salvage the slaughter. "All ships form on the _Destiny Ascension_!" she barked. "We have the council on board, we need an escort! Fire on anything hostile that tries to stop us from leaving!" The remaining ships, mainly of turian make and staffed the same, formed up and helped fire, briefly forming a clear path for the asari dreadnought. Reinforcements quickly took their place, a seemingly never ending supply of geth ships coming from the Widow Relay. The _Ascension's _barriers continued to lower, and the death cries of the turian crews on its flanks could be heard over the comm channel. A volley of missiles struck the _Ascension's_ convoy from behind, as the geth ships near the Citadel formed up to surround them.

"We need all ships at our location!" Lidanya said, only to be met with silence. "All ships, respond! We need every available ship, now! We have the Council onboard, and need assistance!" Her commands were met with silence. Moments later, the ship was rocked by another round of enemy projectiles, and an alarm went off. She saw that the problem was on the engineering deck. She also noticed the ship's movement had slowed noticeably. "Engineering, report!"

"The geth damaged our thrusters! We can only move at half speed!"

If it hadn't been clear earlier, it was clear now that there was no chance to escape. They would have to fight and hope reinforcements arrived. "Melyna, turn us towards that cluster of ships at ten o'clock! Cannon crews, prepare to fire! If we're going down, we're going down with everything we have!" The _Ascension_ rocked as its powerful guns fired, eliminating half the ships they fired at. Melyna wasted no time maneuvering the ship to face another closely grouped cluster of geth ships, and the cannons made quick work of them as well. A group of ten turian ships joined the fight from the direction of the Citadel, eliminating the ships harassing the rear of the _Ascension_.

The remaining combined forces of the Citadel Defense Fleet managed to hold their own for a while, fighting off the still overwhelming geth armada. Eventually, those numbers again proved to much, and the casualties again began to pile up. The shattered bow of a turian ship crashed into the _Ascension_, and a report came in from the crew deck of a hull breach. Alarms continued blare from multiple failing systems, and Lidanya had both Melyna and the ship's navigator, Rylatha, sending out an SOS over all available channels, hoping to draw whatever reinforcements they could. The latest projectiles to strike the ship knocked the captain to the ground, and she groaned as she stood. "This is the _Destiny Ascension_," Rylatha said, voice hoarse from her continued pleas for help. "Main drives are offline. Kinetic barriers at forty percent. We have the Council on board, I repeat, the Council is on board!"

The _Ascension _was taking fire from all sides now, able to do nothing but take the barrage and do its best to fire back. With nothing to do, no tactical decision to make, and no reassurances she could think of, Lidanya felt helpless. She had never felt so powerless, ever. She had served on ships for two hundred years now, the Ascension for one hundred. She had served in the military for four hundred years. She had served in a mercenary unit for one hundred and fifty years before that. Never, in all those centuries of fighting, in the dozens upon dozens of times she had faced death, had Lidanya felt so close to death. Silently, she began thinking of those she would never see again, and those she would soon be reunited with. The alarms going off around her began to fade, her mind tuning them out. For a brief moment, she was able to escape her physical surroundings, and escape to the depths of her mind, where she was happy, and those she had loved throughout her life were with her, smiling.

Reality came rushing back at the shouts of, "Commander! Commander!" Lidanya snapped to attention. "Commander, we're picking up reinforcements!" Rylatha said, a hopeful glint in her eyes.

Lidanya's eyes snapped to the radar screen, and she recognized the signature she saw immediately. "It's the Alliance. Thank the Goddess."

The Alliance reinforcements did not hesitate to throw themselves into the fray, doing their best to clear a path for the damaged _Ascension_. The remainder of the Citadel Defense Fleet, confidence bolstered, began fighting with newfound confidence. Melyna wasted no time guiding the _Ascension _through the path cleared for them, not needing Lidanya's orders before acting. "_Ascension_, you are all clear. Repeat, all clear."

"Roger that," Lidanya said, unable to hide her relief and joy.

* * *

"The main ceremony will be held on Earth in the near future, but we wanted to express our appreciation in person, so you would be sure that it was genuine."

Shepard had never smiled at the Council as genuinely as she did then. "Thank you. I hope my friends will be recognized at this ceremony as well, and every bit to the extent I am."

Sparatus nodded. "But of course." He stared directly at Liara, and Shepard stupidly felt a bit of jealousy grow within her. "You have made it quite clear to us how highly you value the contributions of Dr. T'Soni and the others that fought at your side. They are heroes worth recognizing, and they will be."

More handshakes and pleasantries were exchanged as they said their goodbyes, and Shepard followed Liara outside the office afterwards. She was not paying attention, and walked right into the back of her asari mate. When healthy, it would just be a clumsy slip of the brain they could laugh about. With two still sore legs, the impact was enough to knock her to the ground, a groan of both pain and embarrassment escaping her lips. "Oh, I'm sorry, Commander," someone said.

Shepard saw an asari standing over her, but it wasn't Liara. She recognized the unique, reddish orange colored markings around the eyes, and the name came to her a few moments earlier. "Matriarch Lidanya, fancy bumping into you."

Liara brought her palm to her forehead. "Goddess, Shepard, that was incredibly bad."

"Yeah, I'm sorry," Shepard apologized. Lidanya and Liara both helped her to her feet, and she could see the worry in Liara's eyes. "Are you our escort out of this behemoth?" she asked.

Lidanya nodded. "I insisted. This is my ship, after all."

Shepard locked an arm around Liara's as they followed the matriarch off the ship. "I was glad to hear you and the _Ascension_ both survived," Shepard said. "You must be a hell of an officer in a fight."

"It was pure luck and good timing, I assure you," Lidanya said, sheepishly. For a brief moment, Shepard thought she saw guilt on the asari's face. "Besides, if anyone's survival should be commended, it is your own, commander."

"I had more luck and good timing involved in my own survival than yours, I promise you that," Shepard said with a laugh. "You're still captain after all these years, huh?"

"It's only been three years since the Battle of the Citadel. I've served on the _Destiny Ascension _for over one hundred now." Shepard whistled, and Lidanya grinned. "I won't leave this ship until someone makes me, not after what we've been through together. As far as I'm concerned, it's mine."

"Shepard should be able to sympathize with that," Liara said. "She feels the same about the _Normandy_."

"No, no I don't," Shepard insisted. "My days of fighting are probably over." That was not her choice, but rather a reality she had gradually come to grips with over the past couple months. The injuries she sustained when the Crucible fired had caused permanent damage, damage that even the latest advances in technology could not fully heal. Shepard would be mobile, she would be able to live a normal, happy, fully functional life, but she would almost certainly never be unable to qualify for combat duty ever again. "I know one person who would be happy if I never left home ever again," Shepard said, smiling at her asari mate.

Liara blushed, embarrassed. "I can't pretend that doesn't sound very good to me. You always defy the odds though, Shepard. You'll probably be back in the field in a month, as if nothing ever happened to you."

Shepard leaned over and kissed Liara on the cheek, suppressing a giggle when Liara blushed even more. She was always so shy and embarrassed about acts of affection in front of others, and Shepard was always one to play on that shyness. "I don't suppose a promise would make you feel better?"

"Absolutely not."

Shepard laughed heartily. "At least you're honest."


	5. Family

A boom of thunder shook the ground, a signal from the dark, angry clouds to the south of oncoming rain. Liara grimaced at the sound. The weather in London had been cloudy and rainy for most of the summer, and she was past the point of finding it irritating and to the point of anger whenever the storm clouds began to build. The wind began to whip her clothes. All she had wanted to do was spend a few minutes outside, and now she wasn't even going to get that. When the first drops of rain began to fall, she reluctantly walked back into the hospital.

Bored, she began reading through her data pad again, reading the latest news updates throughout the galaxy. It was a pointless habit of hers, since as the Shadow Broker she knew everything she was reading already, and also knew every single bit of it was out of date and most of it outright wrong, but she still liked to do it. Reading the normal news made her feel normal, made her feel like she was just a normal person with no idea what was really happening in the galaxy. Liara did not want her role as Shadow Broker to consume her, to overtake her life and leave her nothing more than a creepy, obsessed madwoman. If she was being honest, she was considering walking away from the position altogether. How she would do that, and whether she would appoint a successor or obliterate the infrastructure that allowed her to do her job so effectively, making it near impossible for anyone to take her place, she had not decided. She just knew that being the Shadow Broker was not something she wanted to continue doing for much longer.

Liara was reading an article about reconstruction efforts on Thessia, efforts she hoped to join in the next two months when Shepard was cleared to leave Earth, when someone behind her said, "I can't believe how quickly everyone's putting things back together." She jumped at the unexpected voice, which she recognized immediately. "I figured we had at least a year or two of playing the blame game before any real work got done."

Try as she might to think of a witty response, she settled for smiling brightly and throwing herself at Garrus, her joy to see him too much. "Its great to see you," Liara said. Garrus had left Earth seven months earlier, to return to Palaven and check on his family. She had not seen him since.

"Well, things have drastically improved on Palaven, and my family is safe and secure. I heard from both Joker and Miranda that Shepard's close to being cleared to leave London for good, so I had to come see her."

"She'll be thrilled to see you," Liara said, smiling.

The two of them sat together as they waited for Shepard to finish her therapy. They mainly discussed the situations on both Palaven and Thessia, and the improvements Garrus had seen around the galaxy. With so many of the militaries around the galaxy depleted from the Reaper War, the turians and krogans were pulling guard duty in many different systems, as they were the strongest and most numerous. Garrus said that after his family was secured, he was promoted to general, and part of that new responsibility was coordinating and overseeing those troops on guard duty. He had also been recognized on Palaven for his efforts during the war, in a grand ceremony held for all those who distinguished themselves fighting the Reapers. "No one deserves it more, Garrus," Liara said.

The turian scoffed, as humble as ever. "Plenty of others deserve recognition just as much, if not more than I do. Shepard and yourself, just to name two."

Liara smiled. "You sound just like her."

Garrus shrugged, with a smile of his own. "I did spend three years learning from her. Or trying to, anyway."

There was a hint of sadness that Liara had not expected to that last sentence. "I think you both learned well from each other."

"Shepard never let her entire team get slaughtered," Garrus said sorrowfully.

Even now, with as much time that had passed and everything he had proven since, Garrus never forgot his team from his time as Archangel. The major difference was that he now took strength from the lessons their death taught him, instead of dwelling on his mistakes. "Shepard has suffered casualties as well. Ashley, Kaidan, Jack, their deaths still give her nightmares."

"I know," Garrus said. He shook his head and leaned back in the chair. "Let's change the subject, I don't feel like being upset when I see Shepard."

"Okay," Liara said. When neither of them said anything to break the obvious tension that built up, Liara went with the first thing that came to her mind. "So how are the families of your lost team doing?"

Garrus chuckled. "Like you don't know, Ms. Shadow Broker?" he asked quietly, making sure no one else heard.

"I stopped paying attention to you and them long ago," Liara lied. She had stopped paying attention to them, but only in the couple months before the Battle of the Crucible. There simply wasn't enough time for snooping on friends in those days. She wasn't sure why she never checked up on them after the Reapers were defeated.

Garrus seemed skeptical, but didn't say so. "The first place I went after leaving Earth was Omega, to check on them. Thankfully, they were all still alive. Gorvak's aunt was injured by rioters, and Falon's younger brother got violently ill, but they're fine now." He smiled again. "This probably sounds crazy, but seeing them all, knowing they were okay, that made me as happy as when I eventually got back to Palaven and saw my father and sister were alive."

"That doesn't sound crazy at all," Liara said. "You fought alongside those men and women for more than a year, faced many a life or death situation with them. It's only natural you would feel like they and their families were like family for you as well."

"That I do," Garrus said. "And I always will. The least I can do for those people who died under my watch is make sure their families have every comfort I can provide. They were too brave for me to do anything less."

* * *

They had been waiting at the location for hours, and there was still no sign of the Blue Suns convoy. Impatience was beginning to grow within them all, and concern as well. Gorvak, especially, was wondering if Varatus's information had been incorrect. "I don't think they're coming," Gorvak whispered to Archangel, situated next to him with his sniper rifle in hand.

"Varatus has never been wrong before," he insisted, voice muffled by his helmet. "They'll be here."

"What if they don't show up?" Kevan asked, ever the worrier.

Archangel looked at him. "They will."

Gorvak was not so sure. The Blue Suns had to be on to them by now. With all the shit they'd done, not just to the Blue Suns but the Blood Pack and Eclipse as well, how could they not be? Especially after Archangel nearly killed Garm, and they together killed one of the Blue Suns lieutenants. It would only be natural if they started being more cautious, sending out false information to lead Archangel astray or maybe even lead them all into a trap. Great, now he felt even more nervous about the situation, unable to stop picturing Blue Suns pouring in out of nowhere and blasting them.

Time crawled as they waited, all eleven of them growing increasingly nervous. For the first time, Archangel even appeared to doubt the situation, tapping his rifle while looking around nervously. Kevan, Maela, and Laia chatted quietly, until Archangel shushed them. Gorvak checked his own rifle about three times. Falon poked his head up every few minutes, he and Archangel exchanging signals before ducking back out of sight with each other. Gorvak imagined Falon and the others were every bit as nervous, and without Archangel there to talk them down, they might do something very, very stupid. Gorvak decided to check his gun one more time, not knowing how else to pass the time.

Fifteen more minutes passed before the first of the Blue Suns showed up. Archangel had appeared on the verge of abandoning the plan when the distinctive sound of an approaching skycar could be heard. Four Blue Suns exited the vehicle, visibly nervous and watching their surroundings religiously. Gorvak couldn't suppress a grin at the effect their little group was having on such powerful criminal organizations. There was no mistaking the fright he saw on those mercs' faces. He hoped they were deathly afraid. He hoped they woke up screaming at night, still gripped by a nightmare he helped fuel. It was a petty attitude to take, and a dangerous one, but it would only be justice if the Blue Suns suffered every bit as much as he and the other innocents of Omega did.

Another half hour passed before the rest of the Blue Suns arrived, twenty in total. It was double what the men they usually assigned to a job like this. Clearly, the extra men were there only for protection, and they waited outside the warehouse while ten others went inside. Archangel waited two minutes, and then nodded at Kevan. The human, a short, squat man, took a deep breath, and pressed the button on the detonator he held. Every head down on the ground turned to the warehouse at the first of the explosions, their eyes growing wide with fear. None of them paid attention as Gorvak, Archangel, and the others stood from their high cover surrounding the warehouse, not hesitating to open fire. Seven of the Blue Suns fell before they had time to realize what was happening, and two more were killed trying to exchange fire with an enemy they could not see. Only one of them had the wits to find cover, ducking behind one of the skycars as the last of the explosions rocked the warehouse. Riding the crescendo of noise caused by the explosions, screams could be heard from inside. Gorvak grinned, not feeling the slightest bit of guilt over the pleasure he took the death he caused.

It was easy from there. Three of the Blue Suns that entered the warehouse stumbled out, their armor blackened and their eyes haunted. They were quickly shot before they had the opportunity to recover. The one merc that dove behind the car was waited for patiently, Archangel taking the killing shot with his sniper rifle the moment the merc gave him a target. Once the killing was done, they all jumped down from the positions they had taken surrounding the entrance to the warehouse, and began looting the dead. Every unused thermal clip was distributed evenly, and the best of the guns placed inside duffel bags. Credit chits were taken and placed inside wallets. The cargo they were delivering to the warehouse was still inside the last of the two skycars that arrived. Archangel checked it, shaking his head angrily upon identifying the red sand. Drugs made Archangel as angry as anything else. With a maniacal glee, he set fire to it all, picked up the duffel bag full of guns, and led them away. They would need to hurry. There was no doubt the Blue Suns would send reinforcements, those explosions were loud enough to be heard on half the station.

* * *

Varatus reached for his pistol, secured under the desk he sat at, when the door opened, only to release it immediately upon recognizing the cheerful, triumphant voices he heard. They had been gone a long time, long enough for the turian to wonder if his friends had been killed or captured. The relief he felt when Archangel came into view, a grin on his face, was near immeasurable. "How did it go, sir?" he asked.

Archangel rolled his eyes. "I would tell you not to call me sir, but if you didn't listen the first fifty times you won't listen now. They're all dead, we're all alive, their warehouse is rubble, and their drugs are ashes. To put it shortly, everything went perfectly."

"Of course it did," Falon said, entering the room behind them. The salarian wasted no time sitting at another desk and going to work. "Good plan. Blue Suns had no clue of our presence or strategy. All of us are good shots."

Archangel chuckled. "Take a break, Varatus. Falon can cover for you."

"I probably shouldn't, I should…"

"You should take a rest. I'm more than capable of doing anything you would have." Falon's fingers glided over one keyboard, left it, and began typing away at another.

Much as he wished to continue working, Varatus knew his friends were right. "Okay." Archangel grinned, lifted Varatus from the seat by his arm, and pushed him out of the room.

The others were already sitting in the living room, watching the news and devouring snacks. It was a tradition after a job, to see how long it took before their latest deed made the news. It did not take long today. Varatus had just sat down when the asari news anchor reported that Omega authorities had found dead Blue Suns mercenaries at the site of an explosion at the site of a well known Blue Suns hideout. Immediately, every one of them stood from their seats, cheering and celebrating. "Don't fuck with Archangel!" Jarot shouted, his four eyes alight with intensity as he slapped Varatus on the back. The newcomer, a human woman named Zena, was hesitant in her celebration, until Kevan shoved her playfully, and the two began laughing and cheering together. Back in the room Varatus had just left, he heard Falon join his voice to theirs.

They all quieted when Archangel stood at the front of the room, signaling for them to pay attention. "You all did good today," he said, voice full of pride. "You kept your cool, executed the plan perfectly, and together we accomplished our mission perfectly. We kept a lot of drugs off the streets and out of the homes of Omega today, and I couldn't be prouder."

Everyone cheered, smiles adorning their faces. " Today the Blue Suns, tomorrow Aria!" Zena shouted.

Garrus grinned. "Now, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Everyone laughed, Zena included. "Those of you with families, go on home. Enjoy them, and know you played a part in making their lives safer today."

Varatus did not have a family, and as their intel expert he preferred to stay at headquarters anyway. An hour later, he, Falon, Archangel, and Jarot were the only ones left, and they finished the last of the tasks that needed completing. The guns were brought to the armory, where they were arranged accordingly. The thermal clips were placed with the others, neatly stacked in crates. The credit chits, of which they made sure all had been turned over to Archangel, were placed with other valuables inside a large safe. Once that was done, as usual, Archangel took his rifle to a workbench and began to work on it, Jarot went back to the living room, and both Falon and Varatus returned to their desks.

Hours after exhaustion first made its presence known, Varatus was still at his desk, searching for any sign of activity they could act on. There was no shortage of the typical small time stuff, dealers on the streets, businesses being strong-armed, fights and shootings between nobody street gangs. Their group had long ago stopped caring about stopping the small timers. As Archangel put it, "What's the point of cutting away the rotten skin of a spoiled fruit if you don't throw the damn thing away?" He had a point, of course, but considering what they were trying to do, it was no easier to see the symptoms of the larger disease just because they were fighting the cause.

Varatus's eyes were beginning to close when he heard footsteps, and he snapped to attention. He stared at the screens around him, trying to remember what he was doing. "Who are you kidding?" Archangel said, standing behind Varatus. "Go to sleep, already."

"I'm fine," Varatus said, leaning forward in his chair and trying to refocus on the information on the screens. His body refused to cooperate, and he saw little more than a blur of words and images.

Archangel patted him on the back, hard enough to wake him up a little more. "Come on, get up and go to bed." When Varatus resisted his boss's efforts to lift him from the chair, Archangle chuckled. "You are a stubborn bastard. Is there something urgent requiring your attention?"

Varatus shook his head. "No, but if there is I don't want to miss it. I don't go out in the field, so this is my only contribution. I want to be the best I can be, and give you the best possible intelligence I can. Forcing myself to stay awake is a lot less straining than you and the others getting shot at."

This was not a new conversation, and his boss's exasperated sigh told him it was not one Archangel wanted to have right now. He would, though, because that's the type of man he was. "Varatus, you really shouldn't feel so inadequate. Without you…"

"You wouldn't have the intel, you'd be blind out there, we wouldn't have made anywhere near the dent on Omega's criminal element, I've heard it all before. Most of the best information I've given you was found on nights like these, when I've been too tired to stay awake yet somehow managed to do just that." Archangel began to protest, but Varatus said, "Please, boss, just let me do my part."

Archangel smirked, an admiration in his eyes that he made no attempt to hide. "Alright. I don't have any reason not to trust you. I'll check back in a couple hours, if there's anything before that, don't hesitate to let me know." He walked away, and Varatus returned to his work, his weariness temporarily fought off by a wave of adrenaline fueled by determination. He would not let his friends down. He would not let his family down. He prayed that their spirits looked down upon him with pride at the man he had become, and forgiveness of who he used to be.

* * *

Falon's large eyes twitched as he looked through the binoculars in his hands. The squads on the ground were moving forward cautiously, eight of them in two groups of four, while Zena and Laia were positioned on the rooftop next to him, sniper rifles in hand. Those Blue Suns who had not managed to escape the ambush lay dead, most of them from the efficient sniper work of the two women at Falon's side. Most of the Blue Suns, unfortunately, had managed to escape into the nearby parking lot, where Falon and the snipers could not see them. Archangel led one squad that way, while Gorvak led the other. Falon continued to scan the "battlefield," ready to identify a target the moment one presented itself.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zena shudder. A quick look in her direction revealed a look to her that he knew well, having seen it at some point on the faces of many a new recruit in his time in the STG. It was a look of someone having a hard time dealing with the fact they just killed someone. Zena was no newcomer to the realities of war, or to the act of killing, but she was new to this type of killing, the kind that even Falon admitted was more attune to cold-blooded killing. Archangel would never admit it, but many of them, Falon included, knew it was true. Many of the mercs they killed were poor men and women forced into the life because of limited opportunities here on Omega, or asari living out their wild maiden years, or the children of the scumbags running the groups. It took a while to not be bothered by killing such people. Some of them never got used to it, still haunted by the innocent faces they saw when the mission was over. Falon made a mental note to talk to Zena once this job was complete. She needed to talk to someone, to be sure she was coping with the strain of their personal war on crime.

When the gunfire began again, Falon knew they had to leave their position. "Follow me," he said to Zena and Laia, placing his binoculars back within their case on his belt. He hurried across the rooftop of the building they were on, to the ladder they had used to climb up. Once on the ground below, he pulled pistol from its holster, covering the two snipers coming down the ladder. They wasted no time in running to join the fight. The parking lot where the battle was occurring had a ramp that led down into it, and Falon signaled Zena and Laia to a halt behind a Blue Suns car at the top of that ramp. The position allowed them a full view of the parking lot. It was as good a spot as any to pick off targets from afar. "Falon, where are you?" Archangel's voice crackled over the salarian's omnitool.

"At the top of the ramp leading into the parking lot," he answered quickly, even for a Salarian. "Great view up here, we will provide support."

"Then do it," Archangel said. "We can't get good shots down here."

Falon didn't need to be told twice. His binoculars were in his hands before the boss was finished, scanning the area for targets. "Two o'clock, behind the transport," he reported, and Laia delivered a perfect kill shot on the target. "Dead ahead, red car!" Zena took the shot this time, every bit as perfect as the asari's had been. He spotted target after target, calling out their locations, and moving on without waiting to see if the snipers hit them. He knew they wouldn't miss, and even if they did, they would hit the second shot. The Blue Suns were trapped, with nothing to do but fight back. The few that tried to run forward and back up the ramp, Archangel and the others killed. The ones who tried to retreat further into the parking lot were easy targets for the snipers. It was merely clean up at that point, and Archangel and Gorvak moved their squads towards the remaining Blue Suns, shooting them when they presented a target. Once Archangel reported the parking lot as clear, Falon, Zena, and Laia moved down the ramp to join them. "Good work, all of you," Archangel said. He slapped Falon on the back when he drew close. "Especially you three," he said, talking to the salarian and the two snipers.

"Easy work," Laia said. Falon shook his head.

They were in the cars, on their way back to the hideout, when Falon cleared his throat, deciding now was as good a time as any to talk to Zena. The human woman was sitting next to him in the backseat, her dark hair plastered to her tan skin with sweat. She looked better than she did earlier, but still had a slightly haunted look to her. "We did a good thing today," Falon said, not sure how else to start. "Those were bad men, Blue Suns recruiters. Blue Suns often sent these people and others like them to convince impressionable young kids to join their ranks. Many parents have a lot less to worry about now."

Zena offered a weak smile. "I'm glad."

"Yet you seem troubled. Not unnatural, but you should talk to someone. I'm willing to listen."

Zena seemed reluctant, and Falon hoped for a moment that she would not decide to confide in him. Not that he hated listening to the problems of his friends, but he was not very good at making them feel better. That hope disappeared when Zena asked, "How long did it take you to get used to what we do?"

"Very little time, but I'm former STG," Falon said. "We routinely carried out morally questionable missions, all for a good cause." Zena looked down, discouraged by his answer. "Most of the others had a hard time, much like you are," he added. "Feelings of regret are natural for a soldier. You learn to cope eventually."

"He's right," Laia chimed in, from her place in the front seat. "It took me months to grow numb to what we do. I believe in the cause, always have, always will, but that doesn't men I was able to easily accept killing. You have to be a horrible person to be able to kill without your conscience bothering you."

Falon should have been a little insulted by that, since he never did feel that guilty about death. He had his issues when he first served in the military, but those issues had not lasted long. Now was not the time to worry about himself. "We fight a good fight, a necessary fight. You should not feel guilt." Zena smiled weakly, obviously forcing herself. "Feeling guilt is not a bad thing. Guilt is what separates us from the criminals we kill. They are able to exploit innocents, to rob and kill for their own personal gain without a second thought. They are terrible people, who would kill you and everyone you love without a second thought. Your conscience is why you fight with us, rather than fight with them. You should embrace your conscience, and never try to suppress it."

Zena looked ahead, eyes focused on nothing. She seemed to think deeply about what she was told, and eventually nodded determinedly. "Thank you, both of you," she said. "You're right, I should be glad I'm not able to kill without it bothering me. Doesn't make dealing with it any easier."

"That's why you have the rest of us," Laia said, reaching back a hand to squeeze one of Zena's. "We're family."

Zena smiled, and Falon managed to as well. It was true, while many of them had families of their own, this was a different type of family, much the same as his days in the military, before the STG. A group of people facing death together would naturally bond, they had to if they were going to be as successful as possible. Falon had fought alongside these eleven others for more than a year now, knowing that if he failed them or they failed him every one of them would die. He was not the most relatable person, not the easiest person to get along with, but he hoped they knew he considered them family. He would do anything for them, make whatever sacrifice was necessary to keep them safe. And he knew Archangel felt the same way, if not more so.

* * *

Shepard's face lit up with a smile when she saw Garrus sitting with Liara. She hadn't seen her turian friend in months. "What a great day!" she bellowed, smiling even more when both Garrus and Liara faced her. "I get cleared to finally get the hell out of London, and my best friend comes to visit!"

It took a moment for those words to sink in. "You can leave?" Liara asked, shocked.

"I booked a room on a ship to Thessia thirty minutes ago," Shepard said.

Liara squealed happily and ran over to Shepard, embracing her tightly. Garrus was slower to walk over, shaking Shepard's hand. She noticed that the turian seemed a little moody. "What could possibly be wrong with you on such a beautiful, happy day?"

"Nothing, what do you mean?" Garrus said.

"Come on Garrus, I saw enough of broody you to know it right away."

Garrus looked away sheepishly. "Liara and I were just talking about something a little somber, its not a big deal."

Shepard would have pushed the questioning further, but she didn't feel like depressing herself right then. "Well, good. I guess that means you won't object to finding a bar and having a drink with us."

The turian grinned. "When have I ever said no to that?"

The three of them left the hospital eagerly, Shepard leading the pack. She hadn't felt so physically capable since the days when the Reapers first invaded, and she was burning off the extra weight gained while in Alliance custody. The pain from her injuries was almost completely gone, and no longer burdened her just from simple movement. Her head was clear, her spirit joyous. She had the love of her life and her best friend at her side. Life was good. And if they were lucky, it would only get better from here.

Shepard and Liara were alone at the bar after only an hour. Garrus received a call, halfway through his third beer, and reluctantly excused himself, promising to be at the spaceport to say goodbye before they left for Thessia the next day. Shepard was beginning to feel the effects of the four beers she had finished. Blood rushed to her cheeks, her brain was clouded, and her inhibitions were definitely lowering. Staring at the beautiful creature next to her, the overwhelming urge to take Liara then and there was causing her pain. "Why are you staring at me like that?" Liara asked, voice slightly slurred despite only drinking one beer.

"Why wouldn't I be staring?" Shepard asked, clumsily moving a hand to Liara's thigh.

Liara blushed, cheeks turning a deeper shade of blue. They were silent for a few moments, and Shepard could see there was something on her lover's mind. "Are you sure you want to go to Thessia with me?" Liara asked.

The question caught Shepard completely by surprise. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know, maybe…" Liara hesitated. "I just don't want you to overexert yourself. Just because you can leave, doesn't mean you should. Maybe you should stay here and recover more, and join me on Thessia later."

Shepard scooted her chair closer to Liara. "Trying to hide a secret affair from me?" she teased.

Liara predictably jumped. "Goddess, no. Why would you think that? I would never betray you like that."

Despite the accusation being nothing more than a joke, the assurance warmed Shepard's heart. Or maybe that was the alcohol. "Liara, I need to get the hell out of here. I'm going to go insane if I don't do something productive soon. Believe me, I feel better right now than I have in a long, long time. Even more than I did while fighting the Reapers."

Liara smiled. "I'm glad to hear you say that."

Shepard's hand stroked along Liara's thigh, and a different type of flush crept along her cheeks. "You know, I'm thinking of doing something productive right now, that would require your active cooperation with myself." Liara smiled sheepishly, moving in for a kiss at the same time.

* * *

**I'm not that happy with the second half or so of this. It ended up much longer than I planned and I kind of rushed it. Hope you like it anyway.**


	6. I Just Did My Job, Ma'am

**I'm finding Mass Effect 2 REALLY hard to find settings to write chapters for. There's not really any room for a good story that doesn't obliterate the established lore. I didn't even really want to do this chapter, but its the only thing I could think of right now. I'm going to go over ME2 one more time and try to think of something else, and if you all have any suggestions, I'd like to hear it. Right now, the only other ME2 stories I can think of would involve Thane's recruitment mission and the Alarei. I'll be on to ME3 soon, which will be much easier to find inspiration for.**

* * *

A smile came to Liara, her eyes watering as she looked at the camera feed inside the shuttle. The images were of Thessia, and they brought her both joy and sadness. The planet was still a wreck, many of the once prominent skyscrapers leveled, the land blackened. Very few cars, dozens, flew through the sky, where there should have been hundreds. Despite the depressing sights, though, Liara found she was happy at what she saw. Thousands could be seen on the streets, working to rebuild what was destroyed. Where there was once destruction, Liara could see finished buildings, some rebuilt to be even better than before. Spirits appeared to be high, and just like on Earth, many different races were working to rebuild the Asari homeworld.

An arm draped around her shoulders as she watched, a warm, calloused hand gently stroking her neck. Liara had felt that hand enough times to identify it without having to see who it belonged to. "Things look better," Shepard said. Liara nodded. "You okay?"

"I am," Liara said. "I really am. Look at them, Jane. It's just like Earth was. Everyone is working together. Everything that was destroyed will be rebuilt. Goddess, you did it. You not only saved us all, but you have us working together to build a better future." She looked over at Shepard, a couple of tears slowly trickling from her eyes. "You did it, and I could not love you more."

Shepard shrugged, as self-deprecating as ever. "I did what anyone else would have done, and only managed it because of you and everyone else that helped. I'm no more a hero than you, or Garrus, or Tali, or James, or Joker, or anyone else that fought at my side." With a cocky grin, she added, "Hell, Joker especially. After all, he's the one that flew the damn ship."

"Please, don't ever tell him that," Liara joked, laughing happily.

"I wasn't planning on it."

The first thing they did after settling in at the hotel Liara reserved was contact the asari who would assign them to an area, where they would help rebuild. Despite Liara's opposition to the idea, Shepard insisted on helping. "I don't care if all I can do is carry tools to people, I'm going, damn it," she said. Liara did not argue further.

It was hard work, but very satisfying. Liara wasn't very knowledgeable when it came to construction, and Shepard, despite being able to leave Earth, was still not physically able to do particularly tough work, so the two of them spent most of the day helping clear rubble to the best of their ability. Such simple, blue collar work, but Liara's happiness at being on Thessia and participating in the rebuilding efforts kept her from ever growing bored or dissatisfied with the tasks she performed. It did make her sore though, and to look at Shepard, she felt the same weariness in her still recovering muscles. Evening had not yet arrived when the area supervisor, Vanea, insisted they stop for the day.

They were walking back to their car when Shepard grabbed Liara's arm, stopping her. "Check it out," she said, pointing at a group near the base of a skyscraper, where the majority of the construction was focused that day.

The first thing Liara noticed were the suited quarians, two men and a woman. They were looking over a set of blueprints with the area supervisor. "Hmm, quarians. I assumed they would be too busy rebuilding Rannoch to help here."

"You don't recognize one of them?" Shepard asked.

Liara looked again. The woman was wearing a yellow and black envirosuit. One of the men was wearing a red and grey envirosuit, the other one colored white and orange. Obviously, without being able to see their faces, and just relying on their similar looking suits, Liara wasn't sure what she was supposed to recognize. "No," she said.

Shepard shrugged. "I guess you never met him. I thought you did." Before Liara could ask what she was talking about, Shepard kept a hold of her arm and dragged her over to them.

The quarian in the red and grey noticed them, and called out, "Commander Shepard!" The others looked up, watching as the one who called out left.

"Kal'Reegar, you tough old son of a bitch," Shepard said, reverting back to her crude military speak with remarkable ease. "I heard you let those Reaper bastards take you out. Glad to see that wasn't the case." The two shook hands. "I guess you've never met. Liara, this is the infamous Kal'Reegar, Quarian marine extraordinaire. Kal, this is the even more infamous Liara T'Soni, the most beautiful creature on this entire damn planet."

Liara smiled politely at Reegar. She hadn't ever met him, but Shepard spoke very highly of him, about as highly as she ever spoke of anyone. "Nice to meet you."

"Pleasure's mine, ma'am," Reegar said, his voice rough, the voice of a lifelong soldier. He turned his attention back to Shepard. "There were all kinds of rumors flying around about your death, as well, Commander."

"Its not Commander anymore," Shepard interrupted. "I know you won't call me Jane, so at least call me Shepard."

"Yes ma'am," Reegar said, and Liara could swear he smirking behind his visor.

The two of them stood there and talked to each other, sharing their survival stories. Liara listened in awe as Reegar explained how he and his squad held off an attacking Reaper force on Palaven for four hours, defending a critical communications tower. Wounded, and in desperate need of medical attention, Reegar fought, holding the Reapers off until the turians could send reinforcements. Apparently, the report of his death was not quite false, as he was clinically dead for ten minutes. Even when he was revived, his chances of living were quite slim. Somehow, he managed. It reminded Liara of her days at Shepard's bedside after her body was recovered. "I shouldn't be so surprised," Shepard said. "If I could make through this alive, someone like you was never in danger."

"I appreciate the compliment, Shepard, but I'm not worth that comparison," Reegar said, of course. It seemed to be ingrained in the habits of every soldier worth their while to refuse any and all compliments, and give credit to everyone else.

"You remind me quite a bit of Jane," Liara chimed in. "You're every bit the person I expected when she told me about Haestrom."

Reegar shrugged. "I did my job, ma'am. Nothing else."

* * *

"I guarantee the sun will fry it," Reegar said. The entire conversation was ridiculous, they'd personally found out just how deadly Dholen was upon arrival. "We can't afford to throw equipment away just because you want to see it burn. Put it away, now."

Lurso hesitated, looking like he was going to throw the grenade out in the sun despite Reegar's order, but he slipped it back among the others. "Sorry, Kal."

The others grumbled, but Reegar ignored them. His eyes were trained ahead, his hands gripping his assault rifle tightly. The rocket launcher on his back weighed on him heavily, but he bore it without complaint. He had his job, and it was not to complain, it was to protect Tali'Zorah. The squad leader was working at the console inside the gatehouse, not paying attention to the shenanigans of her squad. It was only natural, of course, for someone with as little experience as Tali'Zorah. Authority did not come naturally to her to begin with, and her personality was so shy, so withdrawn, that she did not inspire unquestioned obedience. Reegar could see the potential though. Tali'Zorah was a genuinely brilliant woman, who proved her worth fighting alongside Commander Jane Shepard, Council Spectre. If that didn't get someone's respect, than their opinion shouldn't matter.

As Reegar stood there, he watched the others continue to joke around, not taking their assignment the least bit seriously. That had been the case since the moment they landed on Haestrom. Everyone except Tali and Reegar seemed to believe that the hard part was done, that the chances of being found were somehow far less since they were no longer in space. Such a foolish attitude. Reegar cleared his throat, and the others quieted. "Pay attention, damn it," he said. "I won't let the Geth take us by surprise because you guys weren't doing your job."

"Reegar, relax," Insa said. "Even if the Geth somehow found us down here, which they won't, there's no chance they would surprise us in the process. We're good."

"Just pay attention and do your damn jobs," Reegar repeated.

"Listen to Kal," Tali said, walking their way. "We aren't here to play any games, we're here to complete a mission, a mission the Admiralty Board sent us on. Take it more seriously."

"Yes ma'am," they all said, though Reegar seemed to be the only one that showed her any real respect.

While they walked to their next destination, Reegar took the time to admire his surroundings. It was likely the closest he would ever come to being on the homeworld. Haestrom had mostly served as a research outpost, built for scientists to study its parent star, Dholen. That purpose showed in the buildings themselves, every one of which was outfitted with mostly inoperable equipment and computers. The buildings were built densely packed together, still standing strong after hundreds of years. Residential areas were built to house multiple families within each home, with no decoration besides beds to sleep on, chairs to sit on, and tables to eat at.

Reegar could not have found it more beautiful. The sterile white stone, the pathways above that connected the buildings, the deadly sun they had to avoid, shining high in the sky and casting deep shadows ahead, the shadows they needed to survive. The blue sky, its wispy clouds floating above. Reegar was no artistic man, not a man that typically found beauty in things others did. But this? This was amazing. He felt blessed by the Ancestors to see such sights.

Tali brought them all to a halt as they neared the next lab, cocking her head as if listening. "Do you hear that?" she asked. Reegar heard it too, the sound unmistakable. He looked up, and saw the Geth dropship in the distance, quickly heading their way. "Hide!" Tali ordered.

Everyone followed her as she ran to the nearest building, which turned out to be an abandoned warehouse. Stacks of crates, as low as two feet and as high as ten feet tall, provided cover as they listened and waited. The crashing sound of geth troops colliding with the ground continued nonstop for thirty seconds, the number of geth that implicated worrisome. They communicated with each other, a series of mechanical clicks and buzzes no one besides a geth could understand. "What do we do?" Weela asked, her voice thick with worry.

"Wait here," Tali said immediately, a strength Reegar had never seen in her displaying itself. "They will search the area, and if we stay hidden until they are done, we should be safe." That plan was more wishful thinking than anything else, but it was their only option. Reegar resisted the urge to give the rest of the squad a boastful, "I told you so." He would save that until they were safe.

What felt like hours, but was really more like fifteen minutes, passed. The geth could be heard in surrounding buildings, tossing things around as they searched. Overhead, the geth dropship could still be heard hovering. It was only a matter of time until they came in the warehouse and found them, and everyone knew it. Tali was holding her shotgun, and the rest of the squad took her lead, wielding their weapon. Neet was wielding a pistol, his sniper mostly useless in such close quarters. When the door to the warehouse slid open, all of the quarian marines took a deep breath and held it, not wanting to even risk being heard breathing.

Two distinct sets of footsteps entered, and soon separated from each other. Reegar was at the edge of a four foot tall stack of crates, Weela at his side, the only squad mate near him. One of the geth was coming closer, and was going to see the two of them within moments. The other one seemed to be staying further away. Reegar suddenly had an idea, the only one he could think of that might keep them hidden. To his right, where Weela was crouching, the crates stood eight feet tall, easily taller than him or any geth besides the absolute largest. He put away his rifle and crept closer to those crates. The geth continued to draw closer, and Reegar tensed every muscle, ready to spring into action.

At the last possible moment, when the geth was preparing to turn the corner and would have seen him, Reegar acted. He turned the corner first, grabbing the surprised geth, a regular soldier unit armed with an assault rifle. Moving behind it, still blocked from view by the height of the crates, he immediately twisted the neck, and began pulling at wires, knowing exactly which to pull in order to disable the machine. Within moments, the geth went dark, and he set it down gently. The other geth seemed not to have noticed, but its footsteps were growing louder as well, slowly approaching the position Tali, Neet, and Insa had taken. Insa took the same position Reegar had moments ago, sprang from behind the crates, and did the same to the other geth. With both incapacitated, they continued hiding.

Another forty minutes passed before the dropship left, and another fifteen before Tali finally ordered them to move out. Reegar led the way, poking his assault rifle out of the door, only setting foot outside when he was sure the way was clear. Quietly, cautiously, they continued moving to the building at the end of the courtyard. There was no sign of any geth, and it almost felt like the encounter was something they had imagined. Reegar reached the door first, whipping around to cover his squad mates until they caught up.

* * *

Tali worked faster than before, desperate to get this done before a larger geth force came looking for them. The data she was downloading onto her omnitool suggested what the Admiralty had feared, that Haestrom's sun was destabilizing at far too young an age, and was maturing into a red giant. She had no idea how to explain this, she was no scientist. Hopefully the scientists in the Fleet would be able to figure out how this was happening.

With another console of data downloaded, it was time to move on again. The playful nature of the marines was gone, replaced by a deadly focus. Tali only needed to see Kal and Insa handle those geth in the warehouse to understand why these particular marines had been chosen. Compared to them, she felt wholly inadequate. If the geth returned, and they were forced to fight, could she hold her own? Tali immediately shook her head, clearing such thoughts away. She was Tali'Zorah vas Neema. She had fought alongside the best Spectre in the entire galaxy and more than held her own. She was not someone who had any reason to feel inadequate during a firefight. With a new confidence, she increased the speed of their march.

The geth caught back up with them as Tali downloaded data from the next checkpoint. She and Pol were alone at the console, the others standing watch outside, when they heard the geth drop to the surface, with gunfire following shortly after. They ran to the door, but before they reached it the others came rushing inside. "We have to keep moving!" Kal said.

Neet's absence was immediately noticed. "Where's Neet?" Tali asked. No one would meet her eyes, answering her question without having to say a word. "We have to help him," she said, making for the door.

Kal grabbed her arm, and she wrenched away from him. Insa and Weela both tried to catch her, and she swung elbows at them. Heeal, Torz, and Pol each grabbed her and held her as she violently fought, screaming that they can't leave Neet behind. Kal came over, positioning himself in front of Tali. "We have to move!" he said again, with a force that Tali had only heard from one other person. She closed her eyes, forcing back the tears that formed there. Without another word, she turned and led her squad to the back of the building, and towards the next destination.

The Geth were waiting when they exited the building, and Tali dove behind a railing just before the shots started flying. Unfortunately, Heeal was not fast enough, and she saw him cut down by gunfire, his body slumping a wall, leaving a streak of blood. There was no time to mourn. Tali peeked her head out, trying to formulate a plan. They had the high ground, not that much of an advantage but it was an advantage. The door to the next lab was across the courtyard. In the middle of the courtyard, stacks of concrete cylinders and crates provided good cover, but left the flanks exposed. To the right, a high pathway provided little cover, but a good overview of the rest of the courtyard. To the left was the most cover. Tali chose the left. "Kal, Pol, Lurso lay down cover! Stay alive as long as you can! Torz, Insa, Weela, follow me!"

Crossing the courtyard proved easier than expected. The Geth presence in the courtyard was still limited, and they were able to push past them without casualties. Tali hurried to the door, finding it locked. "Keep them away from me!" she shouted, hacking the lock as quickly as she could. She heard more geth land in the courtyard, and the squad mates with her run to meet them. One geth unit managed to sneak up on her flank, and Tali saw it out of the corner of her eye, shooting it with her pistol while still working furiously with her one free hand. The door opened, and someone shoved her inside from behind. The door closed and locked behind her, and she heard a scream. Tali again blocked the grief, and jogged to the first of the consoles.

* * *

Reegar's felt his skin burning up, the fever progressing quickly. His chest heaved as he struggled to breathe, his chest aching. The wound in his side caused a sharp pain, and he pressed his hand over it, trying to slow the bleeding. Tali still needed him. He would get her out of here, or die trying. His body screamed as he stood from cover, his arms aching as he lifted the missile launcher. The geth did not hesitate to open fire on him, but Reegar paid them no attention. While dangerous, the Colossus was an easy target, and the quarian marine had no trouble hitting it. The problem was, all he could do was annoy the thing long enough to distract it. He fired a missile, watching with satisfaction as it struck the Colossus, and the resulting explosion destroyed two nearby units.

The fever only grew worse as he continued to chip away fruitlessly at the Colossus, helpless to stop it from repairing itself. That was something new, something he would need to report when they returned to the Fleet. He again stood from cover, and noticed four geth in a group moving his way. He fired a missile at them, and ducked behind cover at the last possible moment before the Colossus's pulse cannon projectile flew over his head. A hopelessness began to creep in, which Reegar tried his hardest to ignore. There was no ignoring that he was out of ideas, and was not capable of fighting these geth alone. It was only a matter of time before the machines hacked through the door and cornered Tali. If Shepard was going to get here, she needed to do it now. Otherwise she would be too late.

Suddenly, she was there. She wasn't physically impressive to look at, but there was no doubting the authority about her. It was almost a tangible presence, manifesting itself before her, carried along by her word. A turian and another human woman, covered in tattoos, crouched near Reegar. Shepard introduced herself, and Reegar explained the situation. They had a brief discussion about what their plan would be, and Reegar explained about the Colossus. Even in such a quick conversation, it was obvious why Tali admired the human Spectre so greatly. Her brilliance and strength of command was unlike anything Reegar had ever seen. Even Han'Gerrel couldn't compare. Shepard told him to lay low, and Reegar only offered a brief resistance. Shepard told him more forcefully, and Reegar agreed. He fired one more missile, and ducked behind the railing, his vision beginning to blur as he grew dizzy from illness.

* * *

"He does sound just like you, Jane," Liara said.

Shepard smirked. "What are you doing here?" she asked Reegar. "Construction on Thessia isn't the type of job I expect to find someone like you involved in."

"Admiralty insistence, Shepard," Reegar said, sounding less than pleased. "They sent Marines with everyone off of Rannoch to help with rebuilding efforts. Just in case. I finally have a homeworld, and I haven't been there more than three months in the past year."

"That's the life of a soldier, Kal," Shepard said. "You know that."

"That I do," Reegar agreed. The other quarians called for him, apparently they were ready to leave for the day as well. "Duty calls. Nice to meet you, Ms. T'Soni," he said, politely shaking her hand. "Goodbye Shepard. May the Ancestors continue to show you their favor."

"Same to you, Kal." Reegar turned and walked away.

Liara watched him, noticing the confidence in his step. "I can see why you think so highly of him."

"He's a hell of a soldier," Shepard said.

She yawned, stretching her arms, and Liara had to struggle not to do the same. "Was today that bad?" she asked.

"No," Shepard said immediately. "Everyone's working so hard, and I'm glad to help. This is important to you, and…" Liara stared at her, trying her hardest to draw the truth from this stubborn woman. "I'm sorry, I was bored. Please don't hate me?"

Liara smiled. "Of course not. After all, this wasn't supposed to be fun." Hesitating, Liara continued, "I'm not here just to assist in the rebuilding efforts, anyway. So just give me one more day of work, and we'll do what I came here for. Alright?"

Shepard cocked her head. "Why are we here then?"

"I'll tell you when we get to the apartment," Liara said. When Shepard didn't keep walking, staring at her, Liara reached for her hand. "I promise, its nothing bad. In fact, I believe you'll be very happy when I'm done."


	7. The Smallest Acts Can Make Heroes

Whatever Shepard had been expecting, and to be honest she wasn't sure, the sight before her was not it.

Liara led the way inside, and immediately began typing away at a console. Shepard took that opportunity to look around the room. It was like a cramped version of her office on the Normandy. Monitors showed video feeds of various locations, presumably on Thessia. Shepard recognized various important Matriarchs. Other consoles were filled with data files on various figures, much like those Shepard once found on the Shadow Broker's base above Hagalaz. Phone records, medical history, recent activities, sexual history, bribes taken. Shepard fought to resist the urge to read it all, understanding just in that brief moment why Liara was doing what she was doing. Having this type of information at your disposal, the power that information provided you, would eventually drive even the best of people to madness and corruption. Forcing herself away from the console, Shepard leaned against a wall, keeping her sight focused on Liara as she worked, and the monitors went dark.

To say that Liara's decision to quit her position as Shadow Broker brought Shepard relief was a massive understatement, along the lines of saying Shepard didn't particularly care for the Reapers. Not just because she personally believed no one should have that type of power, but also because she didn't want to see Liara consumed by that power. The change that took place over the two years Shepard was being rebuilt by Cerberus was jarring enough, and that was without nearly the power that came with being the Shadow Broker. Shepard had personally seen how Liara would withdraw into that identity when she felt grief, how she would work herself without food or rest, eyes glued to her monitors. Shepard never wanted to see that again, and thankfully would never have to, it seemed.

Boredom eventually set in as Liara worked, and Shepard couldn't resist wandering over to the monitors, lazily looking at each of them in turn. One showed one of the top floors of a skyscraper, the structure itself basically completed, except for the walls, roofsand wiring. The workers currently present were finishing that, it seemed, hauling desks and finishing the wiring. The camera seemed to be on one of the workers, following others around. Any doubt as to the awareness of the filming was erased when the person wearing the camera stopped, rotating around so the entire level of the tower was caught on film. An asari, presumably the foreman, or at least this person's boss, shouted at him to get a move on, and they hurried to join the rest of the crew.

This construction crew seemed to mainly consist of salarians, and a quick peek towards the ground revealed that the cameraman was a salarian as well. "You need to pay more attention," one of the others said, talking to the cameraman. "You're going to get fired at this rate."

"I do my job, she has nothing to complain about," the cameraman insisted, and his friend shook his head. There was something very familiar about a couple of the salarians, something that made Shepard search the depths of her memories. It came to her when she heard the cameraman's name, Telon. When Telon called the one who talked to him before Chesith, Shepard knew she was right. They were the salarians from Nassana Dantius's tower, when Shepard first met and recruited Thane. It made her smile, knowing they were alive, but it also made her wonder if Telon had been a Shadow Broker spy then, too. Unbidden, her thoughts returned to that day, at the disgust she felt while leading her squad through Dantius Towers.

* * *

"Telon, Telon move!" Chesith said, his normally overactive brain completely shut down by fear. Telon was limping, the result of hurting his leg after tripping over a dead body that used to be one of their coworkers. His eyes were wide, looking at everything but seeing nothing. Somewhere behind them, not very far away, someone screamed until three gunshots rang out. "Telon, please, we have to go now!" Chesith grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him along as fast as he could.

The enormity of the situation they faced still hadn't sunk in. Chesith wasn't even sure what was happening. The day had been entirely normal to that point. He woke up with the normal aches and pains. He ate breakfast, came to work with Telon, where Nassan'a foremen shouted at them for being two minuts late. It was a boring day working a boring shift with the rest of the crew at Dantius Towers. He and Telon were watching as Jassut and Marik finished the last of the wiring, when the omnitools of the Eclipse mercs standing guard chirped. Chesith tried to appear uninterested as he listened, overhearing that some incident was taking place on a lower level. The mercs ran off, and the crew immediately began talking, until the foreman shouted at them to keep working.

They came back shooting ten minutes later. Chesith heard the gunfire on the floor below, and stupidly didn't run immediately. Another worker, someone knew that he didn't know the name of, came running through the door, shouting, "They're killing everybody! They're killing…" before a bullet exited out with a sickening crunch. Someone screamed, Chesith didn't remember who, maybe it was him. Two mercs came into the room shooting, the foreman the first to fall. That was when Telon grabbed Chesith's arm and the two of them began to run.

Gunfire echoed throughout the tower, intermingled with more screams from the crew. After they ran from the room, they didn't stop until they reached a maintenance closet. Chesith's lungs were screaming by then, all rational thought fled from his mind. Telon shivered uncontrollably, and jumped at every gunshot. "Wha-What is happening?" he asked to no one in particular. "Why are they doing this? What is happening?!"

Chesith tried to answer, but found no words. Where the Eclipse mercs turning on Nassana? It was the only thing that made sense. They hadn't finished building the tower, so Nassana wanting them dead made no sense. "I…" he managed to squeak out. "I don't know."

The elevator outside chimed, and Chesith immediately held his breath. Telon began to shake and whimper, and Chesith immediately placed a hand over his mouth, trying to shush his brother. Hurried steps spread around the area outside, one set coming towards the closet. Chesith looked around frantically. They were about to get caught. They were unarmed, with no where to run. Outside, someone began hacking the door. Chesith frantically looked around, but there was nothing else in the closet. No way to hide. Telon began whimpering again, and this time Chesith did not stop him. There was no point, that door would open any moment now and there was nothing they could do. Chesith closed his eyes and crouched, not wanting to see the shots coming.

"Chesith? Telon?" a voice, a Salarian voice, asked questioningly. Slowly, Chesith opened one eye, then the other, exhaling with relief when he saw three other Salarian workers standing there, seemingly every bit as shocked as he was. He knew the man talking, Daroth. "You're alive! We didn't think anyone else made it, we passed by a lot of dead workers on our way to the elevator. Why are they trying to kill us?"

"I don't know," Chesith said, standing back up. "They just started shooting. We only got away because of luck. I don't know how else to explain it."

Daroth stared glumly at the ground. "We saw them send the mechs to round a bunch of workers up. I was in the restroom, near the bottom of Tower Two, and ran into Shelum and Ludom while running to the elevator. We took it to level fifteen and crossed the bridge to Tower One from there." He paused, clearly shaken. "We saw so many dead. The mercs and mechs seem to be searching for something, they're tearing the building up. I don't know why they would have to kill us to find whatever they're looking for."

Chesith thought hard, and could come up with nothing either. "It doesn't matter to us. We need to get out of here. Is the elevator still working?"

"Yes."

"We should take it to the first floor, and run."

Daroth looked at him like he was an idiot. "Are you crazy? Did you not hear what I told you? They're clearing the building from the bottom up, looking for something or someone. There's no way we can walk out the front door."

"Then what do we do? Chesith asked desperately.

"Why not hide in the closet like you were?"

"Because it would only take two seconds to hack it and kill us. We were only hiding in there to catch our breath. Staying would be suicide."

All five of them stayed quiet, thinking over what exactly they could do to escape a death that seemed inevitable. "We could take the elevator to the top floor," Daroth suggested. "Maybe there's a shuttle we could take, or at least a better hiding place."

Chesith thought about it. "That would be our best bet. Especially if they're moving from the bottom up, like you said they are." It really was their best option. "Okay, let's hurry up before the mercs find us here."

They were too late. The elevator was still making its way from the top of the tower when the voices of the mercs could be heard, followed by more screams and gunfire. "Hide!" Chesith said, and all five of them ended up crouching behind a barrier of stacked floor tiles not yet laid.

Again, Chesith found himself holding his breath, to the point of pain, as mercs spread around. "Keep sharp, he could be anywhere," one of them, an asari, said. Chesith dared a quick look, ducking back behind cover before he was seen. They were not looking for the workers. They were looking for someone else, they're attention drawn to the ceiling. "He's been using the ducts, watch each other's backs," the merc said. The elevator chimed, every gun in the room whipping towards it and opening fire the moment the doors opened. "Damn it, he's fucking with us!" the asari shouted, kicking a toolbox along the ground.

"We have to move," Telon whispered. "We have to get on that elevator." Chesith held a finger to his lips, signaling to be quiet. He knew his brother was right, but they couldn't risk making any noise. Chesith looked at Daroth, knowing that he was thinking the same thing. There was no chance to move, though. The mercs were standing right there, and with no cover or places to sneak to the elevator, they would have to run, which would be suicide. For the second time in five minutes, Chesith found himself accepting that he would die this day, for he could see no way to avoid it.

A deafening gunshot rang through the building, similar to what Chesith remembered a sniper rifle sounding like, and he heard a body hit the ground, followed by a lot of shouting and cursing. The Eclipse mercs ran off, screaming, "Get him! Damn it don't let him escape!" Suddenly, the room was empty, everyone running off to kill whoever had fired the sniper rifle.

Chesith realized this was the best chance they would get to escape. "Let's go, the elevator should still be here," he whispered.

Daroth shook his head. "No way, we'll die. Let's go to the closet, we can lock ourselves in there, it's the safest option."

"We talked about this, they could hack that door with ease," Chesith argued, struggling not to yell at his friend. "Let's go to the top floor, its our only option." Daroth shook his head again. There was no time to argue, as much as Chesith wanted to. "Okay, who else wants to try hiding in the closet?" Shelum and Ludom both raised his hand. "Then go. How about you?" he asked Telon.

"I'm with you, brother," Telon said.

Chesith smiled faintly, glad he wouldn't be alone. "Daroth, you and these two should run to the closet. I helped program a lot of the locks in this building, I can make it harder for the mercs to hack them, maybe I can make it impossible if there's no one tech savvy among them. We'll use the elevator. If we get out, we'll send help as soon as we can."

Daroth looked at him sympathetically. "Are you sure?" Chesith nodded. "Are you sure?" he repeated, more insistently.

"I'm not staying here, but I'm not leaving without doing what I can to help," Chesith insisted himself.

Daroth, Shelum, and Ludom ran first, directly for the maintenance closet. Once inside, Chesith immediately began locking the door, adding in the security measures to make it harder to hack. He was nearly done when someone dropped down from the ceiling. Chesith stopped what he was doing, eyes growing wide. It was a drell, which was a strange enough sight. This drell was armed to the teeth. A large sniper rifle was draped across his back, with two pistols in holsters at his side. Two combat knives were sheathed on his belt and in his left boot. There was a strange calm about the man, and for some reason Chesith felt like there was no danger to him.

He wasn't going to stick around to find out though, especially not when the elevator chimed, and Telon shouted, "Chesith, hurry!" Chesith did just that, running as fast as he could. To his right, he saw mercs running back, and heard one of them shout. Behind him, the drell walked over to the door, working on it quickly, and it looked as if he was locking it. The elevator doors closed as the mercs reached it, and they banged against the doors as hard as they could manage. It wasn't until the elevator began to move that Chesith finally relaxed, slumping to the ground as his legs gave out from the strain placed on them.

* * *

With every floor the elevator passed on its way to the top of the tower, Telon's dread only grew. Fortunately, his head was finally clearing. He had never seen someone murdered before, and having his first experience with such brutality involve people he knew, people he was friends with, it nearly shut him down. If Chesith hadn't been there to drag him along, Telon knew he probably would have stared numbly while the Eclipse mercs shot him, back when they first opened fire. He could see now that his brother was beginning to crack, the enormity of the situation weighing on him. It was to be expected, neither of them had ever been this close to death. Not even on those long days, overworked and underfed, when both of them went home feeling lucky to still be alive. Telon would have to be strong for Chesith now, to make up for his brother's strength so far. Thankfully, his leg was no longer hurting. That was a small victory.

The elevator opened, and the two of them hurried out, pressing their backs to a wall ahead. A large window gave them a view outside, where cars flew by, the other rich and powerful of Illium. Telon wondered how many of them knew what Nassana was doing, and how many of them might do the same. He felt a sudden inclination to leave this planet behind. He and Chesith could take their families and move back to Sur'Kesh. Or maybe the Citadel. Anything would be better than this, working long hours with no pay for rich scum.

Once he was sure the way was clear, Telon led the way forward, not making it far before he stopped. He heard two people talking ahead, discussing an assassin. That must be the drell, he figured. The appearance of the drell nearly made Telon soil himself, but to hear these mercs now, he was the good guy in all this. The two mercs appeared to be the only ones around. Telon looked around the room. There was stack of roof tiles they could hide behind. A barrier had been hastily constructed at the other end of the room. "Follow me," Telon whispered, and Chesith nodded, looking like he might freak out.

Telon noticed the others almost immediately after beginning his crouching sprint to the roof tiles. Two salarians lay on the ground, looking beat up but not dead. Both looked up at the mercs near them, and if they saw Telon and Chesith, they showed no sign. "We have to help them," Chesith said, surprising his brother.

"Are you crazy? We'd have to deal with those mercs. We can't do anything to them, we're no fighters." Chesith looked around, and reached for a nearby toolbox. He pulled two large wrenches out, and handed one to Telon. "This is still crazy. We'll hit them, and they'll turn around and shoot us."

"We can't leave them to be killed. The least we can do is try." Chesith glared deep into Telon's eyes, trying to persuade his brother to do the right thing. Telon knew there was no use arguing. He still couldn't believe what his brother wanted to do. "I'll take the one on the left," Chesith said.

Telon began to tremble, assuming that the mercs would turn around any second and shoot him. He looked over at his brother, unbelieving of the strength he showed under such obvious duress. It was enough to make Telon feel ashamed. They closed to within a couple feet, and Chesith counted down from three. They swung their wrenches at the same time, and the mercs fell to the ground, their guns sliding away along the ground. Neither was knocked out, and both Chesith and Telon swung again, this time knock both cold. Telon jogged over to the two beat up workers. Both were frightened, hesitant, understandably so. "We need to go, before they wake up," Telon said.

"We, we can't," one of them said. "They told us not to. If we don't listen, they'll shoot us. We don't want to die, please, we don't want to die."

Telon began to say something, when he saw a shadow at the edge of his vision. "If we stay here, we will die. Our only chance is to get out of here, before the mercs catch us." The shadow returned. "There's someone here, someone following us."

Chesith looked around. "I don't see anything."

"I'm telling you, I just saw someone."

One of the workers stood. "I don't want to die. I didn't do anything. I don't know who he is." A panic overtook him, and Telon backed away warily. "Please! I don't want to die!" He ran off, and the other worker got up, shouting for him to wait as he ran after them. Telon hurried to catch up, Chesith right behind him.

They didn't get far before the panicking worker was shot, three slugs entering his upper body and sending him sprawling to the ground. Telon and the others stopped immediately, raising their hands above their heads. A single merc emerged from behind a column, an assault rifle in his hands. "Don't you fucking move!" he shouted. When he reached the workers, he searched each of them individually. Telon suddenly regretted not grabbing the guns from the other two. Why hadn't he grabbed a gun? Even if he couldn't hit anything, he could have at least created a distraction for the others.

After searching them, the merc circled to their front, eyes afire with rage and panic. His armor had blood stains on it, belonging to someone else. Telon tried not to think about whether it belonged to a worker or another merc. Or maybe even the drell they saw. "Please, we didn't do anything, please don't kill us!" Chesith pleaded.

"Shut up!" the merc shouted. "Shut up!" He looked around. "Move to that door!" he ordered, waving his gun to an door to his right, their left. Telon, Chesith, and the other worker did not hesitate to do as told. This merc was dangerously on edge, and would shoot them if given the slightest provocation. When they reached the door, the merc said, "Open it." Telon did so. The merc ejected the thermal clip from his gun, and loaded a fresh one. This was it. They were done. Telon began to shake, and felt tears come to his eyes. Chesith closed his eyes. The other worker trembled as well, audibly crying. Telon waited for the shot.

He heard it, but felt nothing. When he looked over at his brother and the other worker, he saw they had not been shot. The worker he didn't know was still crying, but Chesith was looking dead ahead, towards the merc. A drip fell down from Telon's face, and he saw that it was a dark red color, not a tear. Only then did he notice the merc on the ground at his feet, the place where his head was supposed to be nothing more than a pulpy mess. Chesith pushed the other worker into the room, and grabbed Telon's arm. Telon pulled away, reached down, and grabbed the merc's pistol from the holster at his waist. He would have grabbed the assault rifle, but the pistol was the first thing he saw. Chesith grabbed him again, threw him into the room, and closed the door.

* * *

Shepard watched the monitor until went blank. Once it was black, she looked over at Liara, who was watching her with interest. "Something catch your eye?" Liara asked.

"Yeah, a salarian I recognized, one of the construction workers I helped when Thane hit Nassana Dantius."

Liara frowned. "I was happy when that horrible woman turned up dead. I know that's cruel to say, but I really was. We should have killed her after we killed her sister."

Shepard's eyes crinkled with worry, her own frown forming. She didn't like hearing Liara talk like that. It was one reason she was glad Liara was giving up her position as Shadow Broker, that darkness within her would no longer receive an easy outlet to capitalize on revenge. "She's long dead now, Li," Shepard said. "No reason to hold any grudge you may have."

A few tense moments passed, dark thoughts brewing behind Liara's eyes, those beautiful blue eyes that Shepard drowned in. Eyes that Shepard too often saw lost in sorrow and darkness, causing both of them pain. "You're right," Liara said, the brilliance returning to her pupils. She went back to work, and within another two minutes was done. "There. Everything is gone, and completely unrecoverable." She smiled at Shepard. "That's one office done, one more here on Thessia."

"I'm assuming you have offices like this on every homeworld?" Shepard asked, the question obviously rhetorical. This was the Shadow Broker, after all.

Liara nodded. "I hope you like to travel. I'm planning on dragging you with me whether you want to or not."

Ludicrously, she sounded worried that Shepard might actually protest. Shepard had to scoff at how ridiculous it was. "Like I'd say no. I swear, sometimes I don't think you know me that well." Liara frowned, and looked away, making Shepard feel guilty for saying that. "Li, I'm sorry, it was a joke."

"It's somewhat true, though," Liara said. "We've never had time with each other that wasn't colored by constant conflict and risk of death. Even this past year, you've been in rehab and around doctors, and I've been attending to various duties as Shadow Broker, as much as we've spent time just being around each other. It's going to be new to be free of such burden. Right now our knowledge of each other stems almost exclusively from watching each other face the risk of death, deal with the burden of billions of lives."

Shepard moved forward and wrapped her arms around Liara's waist. The beautiful asari placed her own hands on Shepard's shoulders. "It's going to be great," Shepard said. "Spending days together, with no worries besides our own. Sleeping late into the morning, and then waking up together. Traveling around doing whatever _we_ want, not what others want." Shepard grinned. "I mean, you're still just hitting your maiden stage. I have to keep up with that."

Liara rolled her eyes. "I'm not the typical asari maiden, Jane. I'm not going to go wild and join mercenary groups and have random sex with various partners."

"You say that now," Shepard teased. "Let's see if you feel the same in twenty years, when I'm beginning to slow down and you're barely different than now."

Liara slapped her lightly on the shoulder. "In twenty years, I expect I'll be a mother. At least, I hope so." She immediately blushed, looking away.

Shepard's heart warmed, and she felt the goofy grin on her face, unbidden. "I don't think either of us is ready for that just yet," she said. Upon the look of disappointment that formed on Liara's face, Shepard kissed her cheek. "But we will be one day. I'd say finishing this little job of yours and figuring out our own futures should come before having to worry about another life."

"How responsible of you," Liara said, slightly teasing. "You sounded quite responsible right there. Almost like a family woman, what do you know?"

Shepard giggled, and kissed Liara on the lips, soft, lovingly. "Yeah, I'm getting there. I have plenty of motivation."

* * *

**Even the smallest acts make a person heroic. :) I took some liberties with Thane's recruitment mission, but nothing that divergent. **

**Definitely going on to ME3 from here. **


	8. The Archives

"Wow, this place is really busy," Jane said, trying her hardest to keep up with Liara's long, purposed strides.

Liara slowed down whenever she began to fall behind, but inevitably ended up walking too fast again. She wanted to get this done, as soon as she could. "It always is. Just think, it took thirty-five years to find the data describing the Crucible. I would be disappointed if humanity wasn't still hard at work, trying to discover what other secrets the Protheans left in this archive."

A group of scientists walking opposite of them stopped and stared as Liara and Jane walked by. Ever the people person, Jane stopped and said hello, shaking each of their hands. The smile on her face only grew bigger when she walked away, and the scientists began whispering excitedly, as if they were a group of children that just met their hero. "I suppose that's true," Jane said, continuing their conversation as if it never stopped. "Why would you have an office here? _How_ do you have an office here?"

"I was stationed here for nearly three months. I would have been terrible at my job to not have an office." Liara waited for another group of scientists to walk by, smiling and nodding politely at them. "Besides, I don't have an office, more some data to retrieve and destroy."

Jane gasped. "Ooh, my favorite," she joked. "Though, I suppose when you say destroy, you mean delete it, not set a charge on it and blow it up."

Liara laughed, shaking her head fondly. "Sorry to disappoint you." She reached back and grabbed Jane's hand. "You can snap the storage devices in half if you want." Jane faked over-eagerness, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

The room Liara used during her time at the Prothean Archive on Mars was empty, just as she had been told it was. She told Jane to close and lock the door, and waited until that was done before walking over to the wall opposite the bed. She tapped the wall a few times, making sure she had the right spot. The paneling came off, revealing the hollowed hiding spot behind it. A small container sat inside, and Liara picked it up, shaking it. The faint rattling side within told Liara that her data was still intact.

The keypad was covered in dust, and Liara wiped it away with the sleeve of her shirt. She entered the code, and the container opened. Jane sat against the wall, trying her hardest not to appear that interested. It was the same fake attitude she took at the previous two stops as well, trying to slyly glance at something while Liara wasn't watching, immediately looking away when she was caught. Liara told her that wasn't necessary, that she could watch if she wanted, but Jane continued to insist she wasn't interested. Plugging the first of the memory sticks into her data pad, Liara began deleting the data stored on it.

One of the larger files caught her eye as it was deleted, a compilation of security reports from her spies within the security team at the Archives. Many of her informants were security guards. It was one of the easiest professions to find a person of questionable morals in need of income, who also didn't have a problem with not asking questions. After the reports, her individual dossiers on each of those security guards popped up. The names flew by fast, but she knew them all. So many of them had died when Cerberus attacked, fighting alongside the Alliance soldiers posted at the station. Liara was one of those fighting as well, trying her hardest just to survive, and seen those deaths personally.

"What's wrong?" Jane asked, walking over and sitting next to her on the bed. When Liara didn't answer, staring back, Jane continued, "You have that look on your face. You know, the one that you have whenever you're trying to pretend something isn't bothering you."

Liara really had no idea what look that was, but it was a look Jane accused her of having multiple times before, always when Liara was thinking of something terrible that happened. "Nothing, just memories."

"You're not regretting giving up the job, are you?'

"Of course not," Liara said, absolutely meaning it.

"Okay," Jane said. "I'm going to go get something to drink. You know where I can find some water or something?"

"When you're leaving the room, to the left. The first set of double doors on your right, there's a mess hall." Jane smiled and patted her thigh, before rising off the bed and leaving the room.

Alone again, Liara turned her attention back to the data being deleted. The last of it was being deleted now, video files from surveillance cameras, all of it during the Cerberus attack when the Reapers first invaded.

* * *

"Dr. T'Soni!" Yvette shouted, knocking insistently on the door of the quarters provided to the asari scientist. "Dr. T'Soni, are you in there?"

The door opened, and the asari woman rubbed her eyes sleepily. "What is it?" she asked, irritated.

Yvette grew a little sheepish at the harsh tone. "I apologize, but we have a situation, and I have to insist you come with me."

Dr. T'Soni glanced back into her room. "Is this really necessary? What's happening?"

"Intruders. Cerberus commandos have forced their way into the complex. We've managed to hold the residential area, but they've taken control of most of the complex. We need to get you and every other civilian out of here immediately."

Dr. T'Soni stared at her with the same shock Yvette felt earlier. "How is that possible? How did they bypass the defenses?"

Yvette shrugged. "We really don't know. They might have someone on the inside. Please, we don't have time for questions, you need to leave, now." Frustratingly, Dr. T'Soni shook her head and walked back into her room. Yvette followed. "Dr. T'Soni, please."

"I am not civilian. I can help fight," she said, grabbing a pistol from under her pillow. "Where's the most immediate threat? I'll go lend my assistance."

"Ma'am, I appreciate your offer, but a scientist won't be much help against Cerberus. They're armed like military." Yvette tightened her grasp on assault rifle, trying to appear authoritative.

Dr. T'Soni glared at her. "I am not merely some 'scientist.' I fought alongside Commander Jane Shepard when she saved the galaxy from Sovereign and the Geth. I've fought mercenaries, geth, Cerberus, I probably have more experience in battle than your entire security force combined. Now show me the way."

There was no further conversation. Yvette led the way through the halls, continuing to gather civilians, while Dr. T'Soni helped. Every so often an explosion would rock the complex, and add another alarm to the cascade already sounding, and the sound of gunfire drew closer with every minute. Upon reaching the last of the residential homes, finding it empty, Yvette turned to face the crowd and do a head count. Thirteen. Thirteen civilians, not counting Dr. T'Soni, in seventeen residences. She hoped that the rest were already evacuated.

Her worry must have shown on her face, because Dr. T'Soni came forward, a sympathetic smile on her face. "It's okay, just stay calm. You found everyone there was to find, now you need to lead us to safety."

Yvette nodded, but was not allowed to calm down. Another explosion, this one very close, knocked her and a few others off their feet. "That was close, really close. Everyone follow me! We need to get to the elevator!" Dr. T'Soni took the lead, jogging in the direction of the elevator, while Yvette covered the rear. The elevator doors had just opened when the first Cerberus soldier came into view, and she wasted no time firing three bursts to drop him. "Everyone hurry on!"

More Cerberus soldiers could be heard running through the halls, and Yvette looked around frantically for something to use as a barricade, cover, anything that could be placed between her and the oncoming Cerberus soldiers. Two vending machines stood against the wall, and she unplugged both, tipping them over and setting them upright. A section of wall slightly wide enough to hide behind stuck out to both the left and right. It would have to do, there was nothing else. She had to hold this position long enough to be sure the civilians got away.

Three Cerberus soldiers ran into view. She killed one, and forced the other two into cover. They exchanged fire for a few minutes, until a grenade was thrown over the vending machines, landing three feet away from Yvette. She hurried to grab and throw it away, when a blue hand did so first. "You need to go!" Yvette shouted at Dr. T'Soni.

The glare she received in return wilted away any further urge to make demands of the asari. "I told you before who I am and what I've done. Now let's hold them off."

Bodies piled up, only to be replaced by another Cerberus soldier seemingly immediately. Yvette had hoped for an opening to escape to present itself, but such an opportunity seemed a very distant possibility. Her thermal clips were beginning to run low, and Dr. T'Soni had long since run out, using her biotics. Without them, Yvette knew she likely would have been dead long ago. "We have to get out of here," Dr. T'Soni said.

"Any ideas how?" Yvette asked, with unintended bitterness.

Dr. T'Soni looked around. "The vents!" she said. "Cover me!"

Yvette did not receive an opportunity to protest before the asari stood, using her biotics to rip open an air duct above. The guard fired the rest of her clip in the direction of the Cerberus soldiers, actually managing to kill one and wound another. Dr. T'Soni jumped up, showing impressive leaping ability, and grabbed the edge of the opening above. Yvette continued to cover her while she pulled herself into the venting. "Come on!" Dr. T'Soni shouted down.

Yvette did not hesitate to jump, grabbing hold of the asari's hand. She grabbed the edge of the opening and tried to pull herself up, Dr. T'Soni grabbing her other arm and helping. The Cerberus soldiers did not hesitate to open fire, concentrating on Yvette's dangling body. She was pulled into the vent a moment after her shields went down. "Where can we go from here?" Dr. T'Soni asked, flinching every time gunfire hit the roof.

"I'll figure that out once we're safer." Yvette pulled one of her grenades from her waist, handing it to Liara. "Drop that down there, maybe you'll get a few of them. Follow me the second you let go, no point in hanging around to admire your work."

* * *

The sight in the warehouse was not the one Yvette had been hoping for. She didn't understand, but understanding wasn't necessary. "Any ideas?" she asked Liara. The asari was insisting on being called Liara, not Dr. T'Soni.

"They do not appear to be paying attention the high ground," Liara said, looking down from their position on the walkway above the warehouse. The plan had initially been to descend to the warehouse floor and cut through to the garage nearby, but with Cerberus's presence, that didn't seem possible. "Do either of the adjacent buildings have a pathway into the garage?"

Yvette took a moment to recall the exact layout of the surrounding area. "We'd have to go out of our way, but if we were able to stick to walkways and circle to the warehouse north of here. There's a hatch leading below the building that leads to garage. Obviously, Cerberus might be in control of the entire area, I don't know."

Liara listened thoughtfully. "All we can do is look." Yvette shrugged, and stepped quietly down the walkway.

The two of them managed to make it to the building to the west unseen, only to find Cerberus occupying that building as well. The walkway echoed faintly, and Yvette grimaced with each step, hoping the soldiers below wouldn't hear. Below, she could hear what was presumably a commander or captain shouting orders, telling his men to search every corner. Yvette kept an eye on the soldiers below, keeping completely still whenever it looked like someone was looking up to the walkways. For the first time, she was allowed to relax, and think. She wondered what exactly the purpose behind the attack was. As a guard, she was not privy to the secrets of the facility, the secrets it held. In the five years now she worked as a security guard at the Mars Archives, she never thought that anything that important was housed here. Scientists always complained about being understaffed and lack of funds. How important could the research and data here possibly be, she figured.

Cerberus's attack, the scope and manpower and planning behind it, along with Liara's presence over the past few months, served as proof she was completely wrong. Something was here, something that Cerberus was willing to practically declare war on the Alliance to retrieve. And Yvette would never be convinced that Liara didn't know exactly what that something was. Especially since Lieutenant Chung seemed to care about nothing except protecting the labs.

They managed to make it to the northern warehouse unseen, where Cerberus was searching but in far lesser numbers than the previous two buildings. No one was guarding the hatch. "We can probably kill them," Liara said. "There's only five."

Yvette watched the Cerberus soldiers, and did a head count. Liara was right, there were only five. "You sure you want to risk that?"

"It's your decision. I'm in your custody."

That wasn't the answer Yvette was looking for, but she didn't say anything else. There really was no need for conflict. Cerberus was paying no attention to the hatch, or the area around it. "If we have to fight, we will," she finally decided. "I don't think we have to. Follow me."

An elevator and a ladder stood near each other, the only two ways down from the walkway. They took the ladder, obviously wanting to limit noise. About halfway down, one of the Cerberus soldies wandered towards the ladder, and Yvette froze in place, loosening the grip one of her hands held on the ladder. He did not see her or Liara, and turned back around. They reached the ground with no further incidents and sprinted as quietly as they could to a nearby forklift.

The hatch was still unguarded. None of the Cerberus soldiers were paying any attention to it, still. "Ready?" Yvette asked. Liara nodded. "Okay, follow me." She stayed low as she hurried forward, one eye never leaving the nearby enemies. Upon reaching it, they found the hatch locked. Made sense, every potential entry or exit was likely locked down electronically when Cerberus first attacked. Yvette used her card key to unlock it. "You first, doctor," she said, holding the door open.

Liara glared at her, but followed the order. She had just ducked her head inside the hatch when a bullet lodged into the ground nearby. Yvette jumped back, letting go of the hatch door and watching it slam closed. "Liara, go!" she shouted, hoping the doctor heard her. Taking cover behind a waist high guardrail, the sections between the railing covered by bulletproof glass, she took her assault rifle out and sprayed blindly. Pressing her earpiece, she shouted, "Captain Grey! Come in Captain Grey!"

Distinguishing whether the gunfire was just on her end or also wherever Captain Grey was took a few moments. "Kind of busy here, Faustin."

"Dr. T'Soni is safe, but I'm pinned down in the northern warehouse, and need assistance."

A grenade landed two feet away from Yvette, and she was just able to throw it away. Shouts from further away told her that reinforcements had arrived. "We're encountering heavy opposition ourselves. Can you find some way out of there?"

"Negative, sir," Yvette answered immediately. "They have me pinned." She stood and unleashed another burst from her rifle, more accurately this time. She managed to lower one of the Cerberus soldier's shields, and drive the rest into cover. Hoping to buy some time, she moved from the railing to a piece of machinery, which would allow her to shoot without completely exposing herself.

A long silence followed her words. "You have to give Dr. T'Soni time to escape, Faustin. Delay them as long as you can."

The implication did not need to be spoken. "Yes, sir." Yvette tried her hardest to sound strong. One of the Cerberus soldiers rushed forward, despite shouts of protest from his comrades, and Yvette did not hesitate to kill him. If she was destined to sacrifice herself, then she was going to take as many of these bastards with her as she could.

* * *

"You okay?" a voice asked, snapping Liara out of a trance she didn't even realize she had fallen into. She looked up to find Shepard standing nearby, quizzically studying her. "How's the purge going?"

Liara looked down, and saw that the data was fully deleted. "All done. This one at least."

"Good," Shepard said. "So, are you okay?"

"Just lost in thought."

"Not bad thoughts, I hope."

Liara shrugged, and placed the next memory stick into the data pad. "Just remembering my time here."

Shepard sat next to her, placing one arm around Liara's waist and her head on her shoulder. "Ugh, is this really going to take this long?"

"I had a lot of secrets," Liara said, grinning. "How else could I do my job?"

"I said it once, and I'll probably say it a hundred more times, but I'm very glad you're giving this up." Shepard paused, staring at the screen along with Liara. "Why are you deleting everything though? Why not hand control to someone else?"

Liara thought about it, not for the first time. It would be easy enough to tell Feron where all of her offices and hidden data caches were hidden. If not him, than someone else. Ultimately, she always found herself deciding that she did not want anyone else to replace her. In the short time Liara was the Shadow Broker, the power had been intoxicating. Any curiosity she had about how someone could grow so evil, like the yahg who held the position before, was quickly dispelled. Liara simply couldn't imagine holding that much power without a purpose. The Reapers, oddly, had been her only saving grace, the purpose she needed to remain herself. "No one should hold this power," she told Shepard. "No one."

Shepard's smile was as genuine and happy as any Liara had ever seen. "You know, the more time we spend around each other the more I realize we agree on a lot more than I thought we would."

"But of course," Liara said, running her fingers through Shepard's hair. "We don't love each other for no reason, do we?"

The two exchanged smiles, and Shepard kissed her softly. "No, I could probably rattle off dozens of reasons that I love you. If you ever want to listen, I'll tell you all of them someday."

Liara placed the data pad on the bed. "We've got time now."


	9. A Reaper Falls

The office was very similar to the one on Thessia. A few less monitors, an extra data console, otherwise it was nearly an exact replica. Shepard followed Liara inside, making herself comfortable in a nearby chair. As comfortable as the damn suit she had to wear to protect her from Palaven's sun allowed her, anyway. At this point, she knew they'd be here a while. "You're going to tell me how you kept this hidden," a metallic voice said. Garrus entered the room, a mix between curiosity, amazement, and annoyance in his expression.

Liara didn't look back. "Palaven was one of the easiest planets to hide an office on," she said, already typing away. "Turians don't ask many questions."

Such an answer did not seem to satisfy Garrus. "I have some questions to ask."

"Relax, Garrus," Shepard said, the soft cushion on the chair comfortable for her very body. As glad as she was to get the hell off of Earth, her body was not yet fully recovered, and the constant travel was taking its toll. Her legs and back, especially, seemed to always be sore. "You know Liara would never do anything to mess with the Hierarchy. Not unless she had a great reason."

Garrus didn't appear convinced. "I don't know that at all." When Shepard glared at him, he raised his hands defensively. "I'm not saying Liara would screw us over unless she thought she had a good reason, but that doesn't mean it was actually a good reason."

Liara didn't seem to be paying attention to Garrus's cruel words, but Shepard gave him a harsh enough glare for both of them. "What exactly are you saying?" she asked coldly.

The turian shrunk under her stare, raising his hands defensively. "Easy, Shepard. I'm just saying…"

"You're just saying a bunch of bullshit because your precious Turian honor and discipline isn't as perfect as you like to think," Shepard interrupted. "If you're going to insult Liara, then I suggest you leave the office until she's done deleting the data you seem so worried about her screwing over the Turians with."

A tense silence dominated the room, no one daring to speak the next words out of fear of the reaction they'd bring. Shepard knew she was being unreasonable, but she couldn't help it. Liara may not always make good choices, may have made various choices that infuriated Shepard herself, but the Spectre would not let anyone question whether her intentions were good. Liara never did anything except what she felt was right.

"Don't be so cruel, Jane," Liara said, breaking the silence. Shepard could swear there was a hint of a smile in her voice, humor barely contained. "I would be worried too, considering the things I know about Garrus. Although, I would think he'd be happier about such information being deleted.

Shepard looked back over at Garrus, who was looking at the ground sheepishly. He was embarrassed, he was actually embarrassed. The tension seemed to suddenly disappear. "Ooh, make sure you save that," she joked.

Liara smirked. "Now, now, Jane, that's not very nice. Garrus might not ever be able to be your friend again if you knew his deepest, darkest secrets."

Playing along, Shepard said, "Well now I REALLY want to see it. Come on, let me see!" When Liara shook her head chidingly, Shepard stomped her foot, pouting like a child. "I said, I want to see!"

Garrus began laughing, and Liara could no longer hold back either. "Alright, alright," the turian said. "I'm sorry, both of you. Consider the matter dropped."

Liara finally turned to look at him. "Thank you."

"Yeah," Garrus said. "I guess I'll leave you to it then." He turned and left, closing the door behind him

Only when she was sure her friend was gone did Shepard stand up and lock the office door. "Some fucking nerve he has to talk like that about you. Even after all this time, everything you've done. He needs to get the fuck over it."

"Think about it," Liara said, attention back on her work. "If he had declined to help you during the Collector mission, and I had not, would you expect me to forgive him so easily?"

"That was two years ago," Shepard said. "And yes, if he played a vital role in defeating the Reapers afterwards." Garrus was not the only one who still held a bit of a grudge against Liara for her single-minded pursuit of the Shadow Broker in those days. Tali still did, though she did a much better job hiding it. Even Shepard found those bitter feelings did not fade so easily. At this point, though, Liara deserved forgiveness, deserved understanding. Holding a grudge anymore would be plain petty. "You don't deserve it. If he hates you so much, then I guess we won't be seeing much of each other anymore."

"Goddess, Shepard, all this talk about getting over things and being petty and you're the most petty of all." Liara stopped her work for a moment and walked over. "I'm going to be here for about two hours, you need to hurry up and get a hold of Garrus before he leaves. Don't act like this, not now. Please, go talk to him."

Shepard managed to reach Garrus through his omnitool, moments before he got in his vehicle and left. There was no doubting which car was Garrus's when she reached the parking lot. No one else at this office would drive something that expensive. "You sure about this?" Garrus asked when Shepard caught up. "Things got a little tense there."

"That's why I want to spend some time with you," Shepard said. "You're my best friend, I'm not letting us walk away from each other that way."

Silence again overtook them, this time of a more friendly nature. "Shepard, you know I don't have a problem with Liara. It's just hard, still. The way she treated you back then, I can't just pretend she never did it. It doesn't mean she's not my friend, or that I don't like her."

Shepard nodded, understanding exactly what he meant. "Garrus, it's water under the damn bridge. Believe me, I know how hard it is to forget. But it's over. We won, the Reapers are gone. Liara was there, right beside you, when we saved the Primarch. She was there when we cured the Genophage. She was there when we assaulted the Illusive Man's headquarters. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you, one last order from Commander Shepard. Leave it in the past. I won't stand for the woman I love and my best friend hating each other over stupid shit that doesn't matter anymore."

Garrus smirked, and stuck his hand out, offering it for a handshake. Shepard happily accepted. "Understood, Commander. It does make me feel much better to know Liara is getting rid of that data. I'm sure the Shadow Broker has information that could plunge Palaven right back into war." He turned away from Shepard, eyes focused upwards on the dozens of towers that made up the metropolis of Cipritine, capital of the Turian homeworld. "I don't ever want to see my home like that ever again."

* * *

Lucus looked up to the sky, where the latest piece of what seemed to be a never-ending sequence of falling rubble came hurtling towards the ground. Thankfully, this one did not fall towards them, as had been the case three other times. Lucus squinted at the rubble, trying to identify what exactly it was, but he couldn't tell. Most likely yet another piece of another Turian ship destroyed by a Reaper, he thought sadly.

His platoon continued to march through the charred streets of Cipritine, no longer even at half strength. The lieutenant had fallen early. The sergeant who took his place soon after that. Two others who assumed command fell when the husks overwhelmed them. No one knew who was supposed to assume command now, and no one stepped up. A leader wasn't necessary. They knew their objective, and continued marching towards it. There was no other choice. A Turian always did what was necessary, no matter the cost. Two gunships flew past, and Lucus found himself wishing they still had their air support. Like most the advantages they normally held, his platoon's gunship had been destroyed during the initial fighting.

The platoon was again forced to change paths upon encountering yet another barricade, made from the fallen concrete and metal of a destroyed building. It was not a new occurrence, and after a quick consultation of their map they continued on, turning onto an adjoining road. The corpses of their fallen comrades lay strewn about, mingling with the unnatural bodies of the husks they killed. A rotten stench overwhelmed Lucus, and judging by how quickly hands flew to cover faces, the entire platoon. There were many more dead husks than his fellow turians, but that did little to assuage the dread in his stomach. Lucus had killed dozens, maybe close to a hundred of these fucking things now, and it didn't matter. There were always more. You kill one, and two more show up. You kill those two, and ten appear. You kill enough of them, and a Reaper flies down, making you retreat. Always, there were more.

After a few more twists and turns to bypass blocked roads, the platoon finally approached their destination, an armory where a stockpile of heavy weapons were kept. Command was adamant that they secure all the heavy weapons they could, though from what Lucus had seen they were completely ineffective against the Reapers. He did not question his orders, though. A Turian never questions orders. Chief Juulius stepped forward, and turned to face the platoon. Lucus immediately straightened, along with the others. Juulius may or may not have been the soldier that command passed to, but it didn't matter anymore. He had assumed the role, and the others would listen. "We need to secure and hold that armory until the retrieval unit arrives," the Chief said. "Stay alert, and do whatever is necessary."

No further words were needed, and the twenty-one soldiers still remaining of Lucus's platoon fanned out towards the armory. The building stood three stories tall, with the top floor also serving as a command post for the local hastatim. Hopefully the communication equipment at that command post still worked. If it didn't, Lucus wasn't sure how they would contact the retrieval unit. He, Zoren, and Tartrus approached a window, peeking cautiously inside. None of them needed look long. When Chief Juulius looked to them, Lucus was the one to signal the presence of the four husks they saw. He watched as other soldiers signaled what hostiles they did or did not see as well. By his count, there were ten altogether.

Chief Juulius signaled everyone to breach and clear on his mark. Zoren readied a flash grenade, and Lucus lifted his Phaestrom rifle, placing his finger gently over the trigger. On the mark, Zoren placed the flash grenade against the glass of the window, and they all turned away from it. Not even two seconds after the grenade shattered the glass, sending the shards flying into the armory, Lucus was leading the charge inside, his boots the first to hit the floor inside by milliseconds. Half a minute later, and the first floor was clear.

The second floor only had four husks, four easily killed human husks, Lucus thought with an entirely inappropriate smile, and the third floor was empty, the husks unable to get pass the heavily fortified, electronically and key-locked door. Once inside, and sure the building was clear. Chief Juulius stayed with four others to send a message to the retrieval unit. Everyone else was told to set up a defensive perimeter. A lesson they all learned within the first hours of the Reaper assault on Palaven was that the Reaper always intercepted communications made on the ground, or at least had some way of detecting that the communications were being made. Once the Chief made contact, Reaper forces would inevitably be sent to take the armory and kill all inside. Every explosive in the turians' possession were used in traps, which were placed inside and outside of every possible entry point into the building. The vehicles were in the area, whether they were still operable or burned shells, were placed in a rough circle around the building. Energy barriers inside the armory were used as well, placed at strategic points throughout the building.

Lucus took position at a second floor window, opened so he could fire out of it. Five others stood at other windows overlooking the front and back entrances of the armory, with the ten remaining members of the platoon guarding the first floor. Smoke from the many fires outside drifted through the windows, smelling of bodies. For an all too brief moment, Lucus dared to hope that the Reapers would send no one, that they considered the armory insignificant enough to not respond. That hope was dashed when an earth-shaking, deafening mechanical roar that he had grown to know all too well sounded nearby, and the husks began dropping to the surface in fiery groups.

The numbers stayed low at first, easily repelled. No husk made it to the armory building itself. The numbers increased slightly as the fight approached the twenty minute mark, but outside of a cannibal that managed to get within a few feet of a downstairs window, the turians held them off with surprising ease. One of Chief Juulius's men ran downstairs, shouting, "Fifteen more minutes! Hold them off for fifteen more minutes!"

Five more minutes, and the number of husks sent their way began to drop in number. The soldiers downstairs hardly needed to shoot, most the husks taken care of before they even came into view of those soldiers. Eight more minutes, and Lucus could hear the two approaching transports before they arrived, flanked by three gunships. Chief Juulius came downstairs, along with the four soldiers that stayed with him. "You six, stay up here and cover us while we load the equipment," he ordered. He was gone as soon as he appeared, greeting a captain that stepped off the transport. A couple dozen troops exited the transports as well, and the commanders issued them orders.

Another deafening Reaper roar, this time even closer, preceded the attack. Lucus's ears were still ringing when the husks began landing, at least twice the number that landed during the entire wait for the retrieval team. Troops both from Lucus's platoon and the newly arrived transports moved forward, to the edge of the barricades, to meet them. The gunships, having never landed, began performing strafing runs on the mobs of husks. A red glow pierced the smoky haze, and Lucus could only watch as a beam struck one of the gunships, decimating a wing and sending it plummeting to the ground in a plume of fire and thick black smoke. "Destroyer!" Lucus shouted. He began running for the stairs, shouting all the way. "Destroyer! We have to get the hell out of this building!"

Tartrus did not listen, and Lucus watched helplessly as the Destroyer's beam struck the second floor, collapsing the top of the stairs behind him. He ran out of the armory, past the soldiers carrying crates of heavy weapons to the transports as quickly as they could. Another shot from the beam blew apart the barricade of cars, sending them flying off in multiple directions. Chief Juulius was thrown back by the impact of the explosion, though he didn't appear to be injured in any serious way. "Find something we can use against that thing," he choked out, wincing in pain as he stood.

"Like what?" the soldier behind Lucus, Garun, asked. It was a good question. They had seen ships from the Fleet take down Reapers, but never anyone on foot. The gunships certainly weren't equipped to do anything more than bother a Destroyer.

"There should be two or three Cains in the armory. Find them and we can take that son of a bitch down."

"Cains?" Lucus said, confused. "Those are Alliance guns."

"And?" Chief Juulius said scathingly. "Have you never used an Alliance gun before?" Lucus certainly had, many times. "Find them. That's your top priority."

Lucus ran to the transport, and began frantically asking what was in the crates already loaded. When he was told no one knew, he began ripping them open, one by one, ignoring the questions of what he was doing. "There aren't any in here," he shouted. He turned to Garun. "Come on, we need to hurry and check inside."

Another blast from the Destroyer's beam blasted apart the top floor, sending falling concrete down on top of them, and crushing two. Everyone had stopped loading crates into the transports, their attention solely on the Reaper and the husks still swarming them. Garun was the first out of the transport, and he was blindsided by a human husk, somehow managing to fight it long enough for Lucus to kill it. Lucus helped his fellow soldier to his feet, and the two of them ran inside the armory, now empty. A cannibal shot at them from a side window, just missing. Lucus didn't miss with his return fire.

Garun was already tearing open the crates, revealing missile launchers and flame throwers and grenade launchers and high powered machine guns, but no Cains. Lucus sprinted toward the back of the building, and nearly got hit when the back door swung open, three husks running inside. He killed two before the last grabbed hold and pushed him to the floor, falling on top of him. The soulless, machine eyes bore in on him as the mouth clicked horribly, trying to bite into his neck or face. A burst of gunfire from towards the front of the building left it without a head, and covered Lucus in a strange oily fluid. Garun hurried over to help him to his feet, and the two men shared a respectful nod.

"Found them!" Lucus shouted triumphantly, around a minute later. The ground had begun to shake from the Destroyer's footsteps, and the sound of gunfire was now nonstop. Lucus lifted one of the Cains, its weight immense, and handed it to the approaching Garun. Once the other soldier had taken the weapon, Lucus lifted the other. "Two shots each," he said. "It will have to be enough."

The two men rushed outside, where Lucus noticed with surprise that their comrades had pushed the husks backed and gained the upper hand. When Chief Juulius saw them with the Cains, he ordered five soldiers near him to begin loading equipment again. "Are they loaded?" he asked.

"Two shots each," Lucus answered.

The Chief managed a weary smile. "More than enough." A mechanical roar nearly sent them to their knees, the Reaper drawing very close now. Lucus noted that the gunships were no longer assaulting it, leaving nothing to distract the Destroyer from the soldiers on the ground. "Take that fucking thing down, now!"

Lucus took the first shot, watching in dismay as it missed the Reaper and hit the building next to it, decimating a huge chunk of the structure. Garun shot next, hitting the armor and knocking the Destroyer back, but not appearing to hurt it. "Damn it, don't fire unless you know you're going to hit it!" Chief Juulius yelled.

Garun shot again, just as the Destroyer readied to shoot its beam again. The impact again knocked it back, jolts of red electricity shooting around the machine. Lucus readied to fire the last shot, when a group of cannibals broke past the perimeter. Chief Juulius ordered Lucus to fire, but there was no chance he'd get a good shot off. He placed the Cain down, and picked up his rifle, helping fight off the husks. The Destroyer recovered from the previous shot, again stalking forward and firing its beam at the turian soldiers ahead of and below it.

Two more fell from the husk push, but after another minute Lucus again had room to breathe. He lifted the Cain from the ground, and aimed it at the Destroyer, waiting for his opportunity. A shot from the beam threw him off balance for a moment, but he kept his feet. The next time the Reaper readied to fire, Lucus did not hesitate. The round flew through the air, making a beeline for the glowing red eye. It hit its mark, and the Destroyer staggered, a series of explosions wracking its frame as it crumpled to the ground.

Not until the husks were fought off and the rest of the heavy weaponry loaded onto the transports did the others gather around Lucus, clapping him on the back and offering congratulations. To be honest, Lucus couldn't believe what he'd done either. He destroyed a Reaper. On foot. "Alright, alright, enough of that," Chief Juulius said. "We have more of those bastards to kill."

Lucus was the first of them to get on a transport, a confidence he hadn't felt since the beginning of this war coursing through his entire body.

* * *

"So I walk through the door, and what does he say? 'Why didn't you come see me sooner?' I don't know why I expected any different." Garrus took a gulp of the drink in front of him, grinning as he shook his head. "I should have expected no different. My dad's never been one to give credit for anything. Even defeating the Reapers."

Shepard sipped her own drink, glad to be inside a building, where she could take off her helmet and not worry about the radiation. An hour and a half had passed since she and Garrus left Liara to her work, all of that time spent trading stories in a local café. "At least you have a parent to bitch at you. I would have given just about anything to have my mother there to yell at me after the war." Hannah Shepard had paid the ultimate price in the Reaper War. Several years had passed since Jane Shepard was ever truly close with her mother, but it still brought her immense grief that her mother didn't survive to see what Shepard had accomplished.

Garrus lifted his drink. "Here's to both our families. We may be the ones the galaxy knows, but we're half the soldiers they were."

Shepard lifted her own glass, the two soldiers clinking their glasses together. "Here, here." They each gulped their drinks. "This is what it's all about, buddy. Being able to sit down and have a drink, with no crisis to solve afterwards. This is why we fought."

"We both still have our crises to solve," Garrus said. "But you're right. I figured that when this was over, at least one of us would be in that bar in the sky, and likely both of us. I never imagined we'd be sitting together a year later, cracking jokes about the war."

As she stood, Shepard checked her watch. Liara would be done soon. "I never had doubt."

Garrus stood as well. "And that's why you were the one, Shepard."


End file.
